valyria reborn (game of thrones isot)
by tiransun157
Summary: The Dragonlord Aurion had attempted to take over Valyria during the fall and to history that was were his story ended in the flames. but now due to a twist of fate he and his army find themselves in a different time were the accomplishments of his people are half remembered legends. Now he and his followers must rebuild valyria and remind the world that fire cannot kill a dragon.
1. prologue

**Hey so this is my first ever fanfic please don't hesitate to offer constructive criticism.  
**

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

The army of Aurion returned to Valyria after their lord crowned himself emperor during the fall, in order to gain control of the remnants of their people and regain order over the freeholds. They returned to find their great cities in flames and their mighty towers collapsing under the power of the earth, as the mines were filled with molten rock and the coasts of their great cities were drowned beneath mighty waves.

Aurion was filled with a great despair at the sight of his peoples fall and vowed to rebuild the freehold back to its former glory and beyond. Seeing that the palace of the archon was still intact, its ancient black towers raised higher than any of building surrounding it, while its gates and walls were imbued with powerful wards. The heavy defences proof against even the wrath of nature. Aurion ordered his army and followers to fall back there to avoid the worse of the cataclysm.

Upon entry Aurion saw the great library its halls containing many powerful artefacts from the freeholds many conquests collapse and a great wave of energy emerge. Barely managing to brace himself Aurion waited for the blast to strike, moments later he felt a great weight with the force of a hammer strike him as darkness overtook him.

Aurion awoke to see the rest of his forces slowly awakening from whatever the blast was. Witnessing one of his sorcerers stumbling towards him Aurion made a greater effort to stand tall, lest he show weakness that could be exploited.

"Report sorcerer what was the blast that struck us." Commanded Aurion violet eyes glaring into the dark purple veil that covered the sorcerers face.

"My lord we do not know for certain what struck us. But it was powerful, the only theory we have is that the artefacts within the great library detonated though to what effect we have no idea." Said the sorcerer his words uncertain.

"We will find the truth later once we are settled, scry the area for survivors, we will bring in as many of our people as possible in and wait out the cataclysm." Commanded Aurion still unnerved by recent events.

"We… cannot my emperor" Whispered the sorcerer.

"WHAT! you dare defy me!" Aurion shouted reaching for his blade to strike down the sorcerer.

"Please my lord let me explain." Cried the panicked sorcerer. "Our magic my emperor, it is weakened the others share my confusion and weakness we do not yet know what has happened.

"Could it be the result of the blast or the cataclysm?" The now calmed Aurion asked.

"Most likely my emperor. But though it is still weak we feel that it is returning, albeit slowly and should it be needed we have other ways of powering many of our spells." Whispered the sorcerer still shaken from his near death.

"I am not yet willing to begin sacrificing the people that came with us. Should we come across some slaves you may use them in the rituals needed to repair the damage done to the city. Until then we will wait until this crisis has somewhat abated and begin our search then." Commanded Aurion.

Aurion saw his most favoured general Vinyx Aernalys walking towards him, his armour much like Aurion's own blackened by the heat and ash of the cataclysm a look of confusion on his face, kneeling before Aurion Vinyx began to speak.

"My emperor there is something that you must see outside something is very wrong with the city."

"What is it has the cataclysm grown worse? are we in danger?" Questioned Aurion worry etched onto his face, preparing to order his people to fall back to the ships if necessary.

"No my lord, it is the opposite the cataclysm seems to have greatly subsided, though a great mist seems to replaced it and some of the men have said that they see strange beasts in the shape of men within them." Replied Vinyx.

"Hmm, order the army to form into search parties and begin searching these ruins find out what is going on." Aurion commanded as he walks to the outer walls, looking over the black walls of Dragonstone out into what remained of Valyria. Only to see crumbling ruins covered in vines and lichen, as though they had been there for centuries and the great fires that had consumed the city gone. With the only evidence of the fourteen flames fury being the red glow of the sky.

"What happened to us?" Aurion whispered watching as scouting parties left the great gates, listening as his followers whispered in fear around him. Noticing several sorcerers nearby Aurion made his way to them and demanded they tell him what happened. The sorcerers looked at each other deciding which would tell their emperor of their new theory.

"My lord, we believe that we have been shifted" Stated one of the sorcerers. Aurion noted that it was the one that he had spoken to earlier.

"Shifted were?" Aurion asked.

"Based on the state of the ruins, we believe that we have been shifted through time to a point after the cataclysm had subsided." Said another one of the sorcerers.

"I see" Aurion stated willing to believe the sorcerers, given the evidence he saw around him. "How far into the future do you believe that we have travelled? Decades, a century?"

"Based on the amount of wild growth, and the condition of many of the non-Dragonstone based buildings, we believe we have been shifted several centuries." Said the lead sorcerer.

"H-how many centuries exactly?" Aurion questioned fearing the shifts that this new information could mean for his plans.

"We believe we have been transported four hundred years into the future my emperor." Said the lead sorcerer.

"I see." Aurion whispered feeling many of his plans begin to unravel at the revelation. He would receive no support from his allies and if the state of the ruins was any indication, there were no other Valyrians within their home peninsula. "Tell me sorcerer, are you knowledgeable in this area of magic?" asked Aurion wishing to understand the phenomena as much as possible.

"I have some talent and experience with divination based spells and rituals my emperor. But nothing on this scale." Replied the lead sorcerer.

"Good enough, you will become my new high sorcerer. I expect for you to find out exactly what has happened, what is your name?" Asked Aurion.

"Maelar my lord." The now high sorcerer replied, still confused at the sudden shift in his status and all too aware of the glares of the other sorcerers at his back.

"I will be in the throne room, send for all of my advisors Maelar. We have much to discuss." Aurion commanded. "On the bright side, at least all my old enemies are dead." Thought Aurion with some joy.


	2. Chapter 1 Aurion

**Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **chapter 1 Aurion**

"Four hundred years." thought Aurion, sitting upon the archons throne, its obsidian and Valyrian steel inlayed surface shimmering in the blue fire of the torches.

"How could this have happened what sorcery exists that could do this?" he said aloud awaiting an answer from one of the sorcerer or generals surrounding him. Though each remained silent fearful of voicing their theories for fear of ridicule.

"We are uncertain my lord, we are now confidant that it had something to do with the destruction of the great library, there were many powerful artefacts within it, and we believe that with their destruction they released a blast that caused this." stated the now high sorcerer Maelar, his new red and silver robes hiding his fearful eyes. Remembering what almost happened to him last time he delivered ill news to the emperor.

Aurion's purple eyes gazed at the sorcerer, glad to see that he was afraid of once again failing him, fear was after all a powerful motivator so long as it was tempered with respect.

"I see, then we will simply have to continue with our current efforts in rebuilding the freeholds to their former glory." Stated Aurion now once more confidant and eager to complete his original objective. Now that the cataclysm was over and all of his possible rivals were long dead.

"My lord, I must advise caution. Things may have changed greatly in our absence; we do not know if there are any threats to us outside of our lands." Cautioned Vinyx now adorned in the rippled dragon steel armour of the archon. His pale features tired from recent events, while his violet eyes showed only the tired caution of a veteran.

Aurion smiled looking around the great hall, made from Dragonstone and polished to an almost mirror sheen, he looked upon his image held on the walls surrounded by various of scenes depicting the freeholds victories against the Ghiscari and the Rhoynar. He saw an emperor and knew that as risks made him such, so to would another risk make him greater still.

"But some caution is always good as well." He thought knowing full well that Vinyx could be right, for all he knew all of the old colonies had been destroyed, perhaps even by those filthy savages that had struck at some of the northern colonies of Valyria and Ghis.

"What were they called again? dothrani or some such." Aurion dismissed the thought and spoke with his advisors.

"We will send some small scout parties to search out our old colonies, and find out the current situation and should it be favourable we will open a dialogue, and from there we will rebuild all that we have lost. This I swear to all of you." Promised Aurion smiling as his advisors applauded his words.

"What if the colonies are lost and all that surrounds us are savages and empires like the Ghiscari of old? what will we do then, we are few they will be many?" Questioned Malon Agaellis one of several advisors who would act as the opposition. An ancient tradition were there would be some that would oppose and argue against the decisions of the leaders of Valyria, to ensure all possible avenues of a debate were heard.

Frowning in annoyance Aurion pondered getting rid of that tradition as one of his first acts as emperor. But in the end decided in times of confusion it was better to retain tradition. Looking at each of the three advisors of the opposition, he saw that all three bore the hallmarks of high tier Valyrian nobility.

With each like himself having silver hair and purple eyes with a beauty that many of the mongrels outside of Valyria called unnatural, Aurion disliked all three, but knew that they would each play an important part in his plans for the future.

"I doubt all of the colonies have fallen. Tyrosh and Volantis both had large armies and strong defences after all and Pentos, Myr and Lys were far enough away, that they were for the most part spared the worst of the cataclysm." Stated Aurion a false smile on his face when he looked at his advisors "and if things have changed drastically as you fear and the colonies have fallen or no longer serve their masters, well the old Valyria was founded on blood and fire perhaps this one will be as well." At this statement the smile upon his face was no longer false.

"We have not yet addressed the other issue affecting us my emperor. The weakening of our magic has already began to negatively affect us. The smiths have stated it is becoming difficult to forge Dragon steel as have the sculptors when it comes to the creation of Dragonstone. Without these substances how will we rebuild our cities or equip our armies, without these how do you plan to reform our civilisation?" asked Vaessa, another member of the opposition her lips placed in a constant sneer, while her eyes and ears were constantly looking for weaknesses within everyone.

"When the freehold was first founded we had neither of these substances, yet we forged the beginnings of our empire and now while production is slowed we still possess some ability to make both substances. Along with the large number of Dragon steel weapons and armour we have in the armouries of the palace which we can use to equip our forces as necessary." Stated Aurion smiling in condescension towards Vaessa.

"What of the Dragonstone? many buildings within the city are badly damaged and need to be repaired before our people can live within them." Asked Vaessa frowning in annoyance.

"A few simple repairs using more mundane materials should be able to allow our people to live in relative comfort. While the sculptors will focus their attentions on repairing the walls and guard towers to ensure our peoples safety." replied Aurion.

"Very well my lord, we merely wish to ensure that all issues are taken into account." finished Vaessa

"I understand, now on to the fleet are any of the ships salvageable?" asked Aurion.

"Yes my emperor around half of our ships are still sea worthy enough for the journeys required, though only a few of them would be combat capable without further repair. The rest of the fleet has been cannibalised for spare parts." Answered the new lord admiral Baelyx Nohdaerys.

"Good we will begin preparations for the expeditions to the old colonies." Stated Aurion eager to uncover how the world had changed.

A month after the council meeting after ensuring that the defences were prepared and repairing several of the building surrounding the palace to house the civilians of the expedition. The leaders of the army made the final preparations to send out six scout parties, each containing three sorcerers, six heavy infantries and fifteen janissaries.

Their orders were to gather as much information about the old colonies as possible, as well as any information about Valyrian survivors, along with any information about other major powers that would now exist. In order to accomplish this each expedition was given several chests of gold and precious gems to bribe officials and buy books that would contain the necessary information.

Aurion watched each group leave upon the back his dragon Morghul, the sun reflecting off of its body bronze scales gleaming as the rays struck them. His eyes taking in the sight of the ruins that were once the greatest city in the world. The repairs obvious as the grey and white stone that was used to replace the now almost impossible to create Dragonstone created ugly scars on the towers being used to house his followers.

"Things cannot remain like this forever." Aurion whispered to himself, hoping that the scouts would return with good news that could give hope to his people, though in the end he feared the worst. Commanding Morghul to return to the tower of dragons to rest, Aurion began to make strategies to ensure his peoples prosperity.

"we will have to begin searching the libraries for ways of enhancing our magic, as well as search all of the hatcheries to find any remaining eggs, two dragons will not be enough to create a new Valyrian empire." Aurion thought remembering the tales of how the Rhoynar had slain two during the wars between them and Valyria. As well as the tales of the Ghiscari legions managing to bring several down during their wars as well.

Watching his people rebuild the city Aurion smiled, after all though it was a shadow of its former self a shadow is still better than a ruin and given time and the slow but steady return of their magic the city would return to its former splendour.

Aurion however frowned as he looked at the skies and the mists surrounding the city. Noting the unnatural nature of both he wondered what they would represent in the future another cataclysm perhaps.

In the end Aurion decided that it mattered little. His people had been saved and somehow brought to this time and though weakened, the knowledge and resources that his scouts would return with would ensure Valyria would persevere and in time regain all of its old glory and then exceed it.

In the meantime, he had to speak with the admiral. Apparently they discovered several wrecked ships bearing the crest of Volantis on their sales and another bearing a lion Sigel "let us hope we will have answers soon enough." He thought.


	3. Chapter 2 Visedar

**Hey everyone thanks for the favs and follows i really appreciate it. Anyway this chapter is based around one of the main OC characters i will be introducing and the start of their adventures investigating Essos as well as my first ever attempt at a fight scene, along with the first look at some of valyria's magic, though in its extremely weakened state not anywhere near what it was or will be later on, so as always feedback is welcome.**

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **Chapter 2 Visedar**

Visedar looked around the small scout ship still reeling from his new command rank, having only joined the legion three years before. He and his group had been chosen to investigate Volantis with several members of his group having grown up there.

Many of their fellow remnants as they had come to call themselves believed that if there was any stronghold of Valyria left in this new world it would be there, after all Volantis was the oldest and most powerful of the old colonies.

Visedar and the others waited as their ship left the disturbing mists that now shrouded their homeland and saw land in the distance, each of them sighing in relief for it. Visedar was certain there was something in the mists though he didn't know what and wasn't sure he wanted to either.

After a few minutes they began to be able to make out details of the city, including the large number of ships docked within the great harbours. This alone gave them hope as not only did they see the crest of Volantis emblazoned upon the sails of many of these ships, but the fact that there were so many ships at all meant that the city must be thriving.

The next detail that they noticed was the great wall that surrounded the original city of Volantis, it's great black walls towering over what appeared to be a newer unrefined, though larger city around it that seemed to be one-part slum and the other part market.

"The new city has grown much since I was last here my lord." stated one of the janissaries "when last I was here there were only a few small towns and camps around the great walls."

"Four hundred years will change a city I suppose, let's just hope they still accept gold and we'll be fine. After all I want to be the first trueborn Valyrian in four hundred years to get drunk and fucked." Joked one of the soldiers smiling at the thought.

"Don't make me laugh Vanor. Even the lowest whore will know to stay away from you." replied another soldier

Ignoring the banter of his soldiers Visedar frowned as he looked over Volantis, noticing a strange temple near the walls he looked at the symbol, but he did not recognize it. The temple seemed to be surrounded by fire and even from where they watched, he could hear the people praying.

"A popular religion no doubt and powerful as well. I can sense the magic from here, it is clearly a focus point for their power." Visedar turned to the voice and saw that it was one of the sorcerers looking at the temple.

"Is it Valyrian magic lord sorcerer? It seems that fire plays a part in their rituals." Asked Visedar his tone respectful, for it was never wise to upset a sorcerer particularly one of this man's age.

"No this magic is a shadow compared to our own. It seems to rely more on faith and sacrifice than ours. No doubt they make use of such methods to compensate for the now weakened state of magic, primitive but effective." stated the sorcerer a note of praise in his voice.

"I see, I had hoped that some of our people had been able to retain some of their power there, it would have made our mission somewhat easier." Visedar replied disheartened.

"We have only just begun our journey, in time we will find truth of our people's fate good or ill." Said the sorcerer laying a comforting hand on Visedar's armoured shoulder.

After a several more hours of sailing the ship finally docked at Volantis and after getting used to the smell the scout party moved ashore. They quickly made their way into the city, before splitting into different groups to look for anywhere that could give them the information they sought.

Eventually after several hours of searching throughout the areas near the docks they made their way to a nearby tavern and discussed their discoveries.

"We found little out my lord. The poor of this city know only that Valyria was a mighty empire that fell centuries ago, with many of them believing that our people were punished by whatever gods they believe in for some perceived slight." Began one of the sorcerers this one far younger than their leader. He held a note of derision in his voice as he spoke of the superstitious nature most within the city seemed to hold.

"We found out as much about the city as possible my lord. The people we talked to were most eager to talk about the greatness of Volantis." Spoke one of the trueborn. "Apparently they view themselves as the heir of Valyria and have attempted several times to prove it through either economic or military might."

"Interesting did you find any information on who leads the city now or anything about the other colonies?" Asked Visedar.

"I found a fair amount of information on the government of the city sir. Apparently they use a system similar to the old Valyrian model, with two major parties the tigers and elephants. Both parties hold differing views on how Volantis should use its power, with the tigers desiring grater levels of militarisation and a move towards conquering the other free cities, as the colonies are now known. While the elephants believe that Volantis should focus on economically dominating the other cities, without wasting lives attempting to conquer them." Reported Vanor.

"Interesting how did you come by so much information so quickly" Asked Visedar

"W-well you see sir. I um encountered a campaign march and ended up speaking with several of the workers, they were eager to discuss politics with me." Replied Vanor his cheeks reddening slightly.

"He means he slept with several whores who were involved in one of the triarchs voting campaigns." Said another trueborn, rolling his eyes as Vanor glared at him.

"Shut up Virys, at least I gathered information. You just sat around the taverns we travelled by getting drunk." Hissed Vanor embarrassment clear in his eyes.

"It's called eavesdropping, I listened to the people's opinions on the triarchs as well as the free cites and the rest of the world. Apparently people have a great deal to complain about now that war is brewing between several of the free cites particularly Lys and Tyrosh." Calmly stated the now named Virys. "If you thought more with your head instead of your prick you'd understand that."

Ignoring the bickering of the pair Visedar turned to the elderly sorcerer and asked if he had managed to find out anything about the great temple they had seen on their approach.

"The temple is apparently the headquarters for a religion dedicated to the god R'hllor the lord of light. a powerful religion throughout Essos, apparently over half of the Tiger Cloaks who act as the city watch are worshippers." Said the sorcerer.

"I see has anyone discovered any remnants of Valyria left in the world? the emperor had hoped that some of our people would have survived in the colonies after all?" asked Visedar.

"Apparently all of the inhabitants of old Volantis on the other side of the wall are of pure Valyrian blood and only those that can prove this are allowed to even enter without an express invitation or become triarchs." Replied Virys "Lys also apparently seems to have maintained much of the blood of Valyria, with even its commoners displaying such traits. The other colonies however are a different story they have apparently become heavily diluted breeding mongrel races."

"Unfortunate but not unexpected they were always distant from Valyria after all. What concerns me however are the tales of the other three free cities Braavos, Norvos and Lorath two were formed from dissidents, while the third and most powerful of all the free cities was founded by the escaped slaves of our people." stated the elderly sorcerer his tone concerned.

After continuing their discussion for several more minutes, including the discovery of the Ghiscari survival in slavers bay. The party was confronted by several men, each of them was blonde with green eyes and each wore heavy mail armour with simple steel swords sheathed at their sides.

The leader of the group confronted Visedar who noted they spoke the language of the Andals, the one they had been forced to stumble through to speak to people in the city fluently.

"Interesting armour friends. It is rare to see anyone wear armour like that nowadays". Said the leader a friendly smile on his face though it did not reach his eyes. "Most people stopped wearing anything with those types of symbols on it when the mad king was killed."

"is that so and what sort of symbols are you referring to _friend_?" asked Visedar, noting that both his companions and those of the man in front of him were starting to move around the tables.

"Those dragons on your armour, folks haven't worn stuff like that since the Targaryen's were slaughtered and you know what, I think it should stay that way!" with a sudden yell the leader attempted to stab a dagger into Visedar's throat, while his companions struck the others.

Caught off guard at the mention of one of the forty families, Visedar barely managed to grab the man's wrist to stop the death blow, though not before the dagger scratched his neck a ruby line visible on his pale flesh, head-butting the man, he heard the satisfying crack of his nose breaking, followed by the Andal recoiling in shock. Capitalising on his advantage Visedar struck the man in the throat causing him to fall to his knees clutching his throat as he gasped for breath. While seeig the state of their leader one of the Andals broke off from their fight with vanor, unsheathed his sword and charged Visedar, who took out his own blade.

After blocking the Andals clumsy strike Visedar went on the offensive with the Andal barely managing to parry Visedar's strikes, before he stumbled slightly as he backpedalled, leaving himself open for Visedar to strike a heavy two handed blow against him, with the man barely managing to raise his own blade to block the blow, but as he tried to block it the Valyrian blade cut through the inferior steel sword as well as the man's mail armour. The blade cutting deep into the meat of his shoulder, causing him to scream in pain and anger before collapsing to his knees in shock. As blood poured from the wound staining the ground and Visedar's face red.

Seeing what had happened to one of their companions and the state of their leader, the group realising how outmatched they were attempted to flee, but were quickly captured by the janissaries guarding the tavern for their trueborn companions. Turning to the owner of the tavern, who had finally come up from under the counter Visedar asked if there was somewhere private where they could talk with their new friends.

Making their way to their way to the basement of the tavern the group discussed their new theories. "why did these Andals attack us? The freeholds never made it as far as Westeros, other than a few small outposts?" Questioned Vanor.

"Most likely it has something to do with this mad king and the Targaryen's." Replied Virys the pairs earlier arguments forgotten in the face of the situation.

"We will find out soon enough. I sent Vahaelarys and Raerys ahead to prepare the chamber for our _conversation_ with the Andals." Said the elder sorcerer.

Throughout the journey Visedar was silent, the Andal he had struck was unconscious so they would not be getting any information from him. But the others particularly their leader should be able to make up for that.

"W-what do you intend to do to us. I swear that if you release me you will be greatly rewarded my family is among the wealthiest in the world, there is no need to torture us, I assure we will tell no one about you." Pleaded the Andal leader, his eyes darting madly around the corridor looking for any way to at least save himself.

"Torture you, nothing so crude, we simply intend to find out some information. Besides our methods are far more efficient and less prone to falsehood compared to simple torture." Replied Vanor laughing at the thought of a Valyrian resorting to such a crude form of information gathering.

When the group entered the basement they found a small fire within a black iron brazier had been lit in the centre of a complex glyph that hurt the eyes of the Andals and janissary when they looked at it for too long. The prisoners where each placed into one of the circles at the edge of the glyph, when they were all in position the three sorcerer each cut their hands releasing a small amount of blood into the central fire.

The flames took on an ethereal blue glow, while the prisoners found that they could no longer move paralysed within the circles their eyes showed an almost animalistic terror at their situation. "Now then let's have a nice little chat." Said Visedar smiling at the Andals as they gazed in fear.

"Let's start with something easy shall we, what is your name?" Visedar asked the leader. The flames began to show a collection of images, faces of the ones their prisoner loved and a lion Sigel, the flames began to whisper in the leaders own voice "Harden Lannister."

"Well now Harden that wasn't so hard was it, now then tell me about the Targaryen's and the mad king?" Asked Visedar the other members of his group stiffening at the name, eagerly awaiting information on one of the great families.

This time the flames showed people with the traits of Valyria, while the same voice whispered names and events that involved the Targaryen's, they saw the Targaryen's betraying Volantis destroying its efforts to remake the freeholds to keep their own power. Followed by dragons burning Andal cities to the ground, forming a kingdom out of the ashes, they saw the three headed dragon Sigel of the Targaryen's cover all of Westeros. Finally, they saw the dragons wither along with the Targaryen's as they became weak, pathetic and insane creatures, unworthy of even their lowly titles within Valyria, as they bred with Andal savages until finally, their kingdom ended with a withered old man cutting himself on a throne of swords, his life ended by a shining gold blade.

Visedar and his group were silent at the revelations they had uncovered. This was not what they had wished to find out. The dragons gone and one of the forty families turned traitor, before being reduced to gibbering mongrels truly it was the worst sort of news.

"W-we must tell the emperor what we have uncovered, he must know of these betrayals to say nothing of the other revelations we have discovered." Stated Vanor his voice shaken at the magnitude of their discovery.

"Agreed but first we must find out if any other members of the Targaryen family live. so that they may answer for their crimes." Replied Virys anger in his eyes and his words as he spat the name Targaryen.

The elder sorcerer looked at their prisoners noting the paleness of their sweat covered skin and the hollow look in their eyes. "They will not survive much longer. The ritual has already sapped most of their life force. They are beyond recovery at this point, but they can be used for one more answer." Stated the elderly sorcerer.

Once Visedar spoke the question the flames once more showed them images. They saw two children in a distant city, each with the features of Valyria begging in the streets. One little better than the rest of his line petty and weak. But the other barely a child the flames showed that she had potential for greatness, they showed her striking down a harpy with three dragons at her side.

"Interesting the flames show that the girl will have potential but the boy…" Began Vahaelarys before he was cut off by Virys

"It does not matter what potential the flames show! she is the spawn of traitors she and her brother should be executed as soon as possible!" Barked Virys.

"The argument is academic for now friends; our guests have expired the memory based scrying was too much for their bodies to take. "Spoke the elder gazing at the now rapidly aged bodies of the four Andals used in the ritual, before sighing in annoyance. "In the past we would have only needed some of their blood to gain the answers held within, now we are reduced to sapping all of their energy to gain the same results."

"We still have one left we can use him to find out exactly where they are and begin our hunt." Argued Vanor.

"No, we will use him to enhance the candles duration, we have much to report to the emperor and we cannot afford for the connection to be lost prematurely, he will not be pleased by many of our discoveries. But there is little that we can do, for now we shall instead wait here and inform the emperor of the situation and do as he bids, we will _not_ go off on our own petty vendettas." Ordered Visedar glaring at Vanor and Virys as he said the last part.

The group removed the bodies throwing them into a ditch near the tavern before putting out the fire and placing their final prisoner into the centre of the glyph. The elderly sorcerer then took out a black glass candle and laid it onto his chest, while the other two sorcerers placedc themselves around it, so that the three formed a triangle. After several minutes of soft chanting the three stiffened and the candle began to glow a dim green as a voice began to speak barely intelligible, as though the figure was speaking from a great distance.

"Lord sorcerer Jaerion, captain Visedar what do you have to report?" Came the voice of the emperor, becoming clearer as the light brightened and more of the Andals life force was drained into the crystal.

"My lord, we have uncovered a great deal of information on the current state of the colonies. As well as other survivors of Valyria, some of the news is good, the rest is… grim to say the least".


	4. Chapter 3 Aurion

**Hey readers as always thank you for the favs and follows it means allot since this is my first ever fic anyway this chapter returns to valyria and will detail the start of Aurions plans to rebuild the freeholds. So as always please enjoy and give feedback.**

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **Chapter 3 Aurion**

"Traitorous filth, may the flames take them all!" Roared Aurion moments after being told Visedar's discoveries. "They dare to betray our people and disgrace our blood! I want you to find these mongrel Targaryen's drag them back here, they will be an example to all that would disgrace Valyria."

"My emperor please forgive me, but I believe that you are letting your emotions get the best of you in this situation." Calmly stated Jaerion his voice now clearly heard from within the candle. "This could in fact be providence smiling upon us in our hour of need."

"Speak quickly sorcerer and explain your reasoning as to why this knowledge should bring me joy." Replied the now calmer Aurion.

"we can use these Targaryen's as a cat's paw to undermine possible targets. No doubt they have allies still in Westeros this could be the beginning of a new empire." Began Jaerion. "I have little doubt that Volantis will kneel to us my lord, but the other colonies are far more uncertain to say nothing of the northern cities."

"What could Westeros offer us? the Andals and first men were savages and the Rhoynar not much better." Queried Aurion interested in why such a wise figure within Valyria would make such suggestions.

"That was the past my lord they have apparently advanced much since that time, from the prisoners we interrogated we discovered that several of their houses are extremely wealthy, legendary even in Volantis for their mines of gold and silver, while others have access to large amounts of food and people." Replied Jaerion. "If we can somehow place one of the two back on the throne we can likely convince them to join the empire peacefully without us having to sacrifice any of our people to conquer the entire continent."

"What do you have to say to this plan Visedar, it is your group?" asked Aurion interested in the leader's views on the matter.

"I believe that it is a risk my lord, these Targaryen's have apparently degraded mentally, they could be erratic if we help them regain their throne they may attack us rather than join us. But it is a risk that I think we must take if we are to return to our former glory. We are now surrounded by enemies and when they discover us they will not stop until we or they are dead." Answered Visedar.

"How would you recommend that we minimise the risk then?" Asked Aurion.

"We should observe the pair and eventually ingratiate ourselves to them. Earning their trust and from their guide them down a path that best suits Valyria my emperor." Replied Visedar. "The lord sorcerer is correct they could be useful to our people."

"Very well you have my permission to track down the pair. We shall see if your providence is correct or not, but know this you will receive no more aid from Valyria. The mists surrounding our lands have prevented any of the other expeditions leaving, they simply sail in circles before returning to the docks, only the path to Volantis is clear as well as a few other routes, we must consolidate our effort on these areas and on rebuilding our lands." Finished Aurion.

"We understand my lord we will not fail you." Replied Visedar before cutting the connection, the light within the green command candle going out leaving the emperors throne room covered by darkness once more.

"Let us hope you don't." Whispered the emperor.

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The next day the emperor left for the dock to see the ships the admiral had discovered crashed onto the shore of Valyria. After his discussion with Visedar and Jaerion he was certain that one of the ships belonged to the Lannister family. When he asked to see the personal effects of the ship the admiral informed him that while most of the cargo was worthless a single journal had survived, along with a dragon steel sword both found near one of the better dressed bodies on the ship.

"I will take these to my rooms, make sure that this one's body is taken care of." Ordered Aurion.

"Yes my emperor." Replied one of his nearby servants.

As he made his way back to the palace, he looked over the city walls noting the statuary depicting images of dragons as well as military victories, fused within the midnight black walls giving them an elegant yet intimidating flair.

Stopping before one set of images in particular, the image of a great dragon tearing the throat out of a harpy while a city burned beneath them, he pondered the news sent back to him that the Ghiscari had managed to reform themselves.

"This I cannot allow to stand." He thought in the past Valyria and the empire of the Ghiscari had warred many times, and while Valyria had always won it was due to dragons not skill at arms or numbers. Now he had only one fully grown dragon and a few thousand men he would have to be careful in his plans.

"Should they discover we have returned they will send all of their armies after us. These mists may save us for a time, but without outside aid my people may starve before we finally manage to grow crops." Thought Aurion glaring at the image of the harpy before moving on.

Making his way to his private study Aurion began reading the journal. After an hour of reading about the journeys of Gerion Lannister and of how important the sword he now had was to one of the most powerful families in Westeros, Aurion closed the book and picked up the sword.

"So you are brighroar, who would ever think a cheaply made dragon steel sword would be worth so much, thank you Gerion you have helped me more than you could possibly imagine." Said Aurion before re-sheathing the sword.

Summoning a servant, Aurion commanded that the sword and journal be placed with the body, before heading to the throne room to speak with his advisors about what the scout team had discovered. he arrived to find them already present, apparently rumours had already begun to circulate about what the expedition had found.

"My emperor are the rumours true are their truly no more outposts of Valyria?" Asked Daelyx the final member of the opposition, a note of fear in his voice at the thought.

"I am afraid so much of the information that our scouts have sent me was… disturbing." Said Aurion a trace of hesitance in his voice. "But there is also some hope in our situation."

"What hope, our colonies are either gone or usurped and an entire line of the forty turned traitor, destroying one of the only chances we had of regaining the empire in a mad plot for power." Asked Vaessa.

"I will admit I shared your pessimism when I first found out the information, however having given the matter more thought, I now believe that there are many opportunities that we may be blessed with." Said Aurion his tone becoming stronger as he went on as his confidence in the situation increased.

"What opportunities my _emperor_. I see not but death ruin in all directions for us." Scoffed Malon sneering as he said Aurion's title.

"That Malon is why I am emperor and you are a mere advisor you lack vision; I suggest you remember your place in the future if you wish to keep it." Hissed Aurion his eyes narrowed and a sneer on his face.

"I apologise my emperor. I have overstepped please, forgive me" Said Malon realising his error before bowing his head in deference.

"I understand tensions are running high since our… arrival in this time, only made worse as new information comes to light on both our situation and the fate of the freehold. But this is not the time to fight amongst ourselves we must continue to rebuild and in time the empire will rise anew." Said Aurion

"Please tell us what is your plan my emperor and I shall see it done?" Asked Vinyx eager to serve the empire now that their seemed to be hope again. His once tired face now filled with vigour and his weary eyes brightened with the promise of glory.

"Now old friend we begin the process of recreating the empire. We have learned all of the necessary routs to leave Valyria without being misled by the mists thanks to the efforts of our scouts. We will start as subtly as possible by capturing outposts that now either wither abandoned or are inhabited only by corsairs. From there we will begin gathering slaves to aid in the reconstruction of our cities and to supplement our armies. I will personally go to Volantis and speak with their triarchs to see them return to the fold, you Vinyx will lead our forces in the reclamation efforts, we will focus our attention on the basilisk isles." Commanded Aurion.

"The basilisk isles my lord, why focus our attentions on those blighted lands there are other far richer lands we could focus on?" Questioned Maelar his uncertainty at the situation clear as he looked at the map of Essos laid before the council.

"Their blighted nature is the very reason I desire them, they will act as a base of operations for our slaving efforts into Sothyros and the summer islands. As well as for future raids against the Ghiscari. The isles also possess something else that I greatly desire." Answered Aurion his smile taking on an unpleasant turn at the end of his words.

"Y-you speak of Gogossos don't you my emperor, some things are best left forgotten my lord The things that were done their go against the laws of men and gods." Whispered Daelyx remembering the tales of the things done in that dark city.

"I am an emperor Daelyx and as such above mere men and there are no gods left worthy enough to judge me." Answered Aurion sneering at the weakness of his advisor. "What we need are things that will allow us to fight our more numerically superior foes and the secrets in Gogossos will help us in that regard."

"I will need to take a great many sorcerers if you wish for us to learn all we can of Gogossos and the secrets within my lord." Began Vinyx his tone thoughtful "I will also need the vast majority of our ships and a large contingent of our soldiers to fully pacify the islands.

"You shall have all that you need to accomplish your missions. We are sending out no more scouts to the distant former colonies or slavers bay, without the ability to ensure long range communication, so everything on Valyria is at your disposal to ensure your success." Replied Aurion.

"What of Visedar's scout group? will they return to Valyria to take part in this campaign?" Asked Maelar.

"No they will continue to explore Essos and make periodic contact when possible. With one of their primary missions being to find the Targaryen heirs and guide them down a path that best suits our purposes." Replied Aurion.

"These are dangerous games you are playing my emperor one wrong move and Valyria will once more be reduced to the annals of history." Warned Vaessa.

"I am aware of the risks, but they must be taken if our people are to reclaim our proper pace in the world. You have your orders everyone carry them out." Replied Aurion.


	5. Chapter 4 Visedar

**Hey everyone this is the next chapter just so everyone knows updates will start slowing down after the next chapter to about one a week sorry about that. If anyone has questions about the fic its also on spacebattles and alt history, i am alot more active on those sites to answer any questions you guys might have.**

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **Chapter 4 Visedar**

It had been two days since the emperor had given them their orders and Visedar's scout group were preparing to leave Volantis having purchased as many supplies as possible for their journey. They had already decided that they would travel through the various former colonies to observe their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the possibilities of them realigning with Valyria in the future. All the while searching for their objectives, the Targaryen heirs Visedar knew that some of his party did not agree with the emperor's decision to try and return the Targaryen's to the fold, instead believing that their ancestors had already dishonoured Valyria too much for such a thing. But in the end they were all soldiers of the empire and could be counted on to do their duty no matter their thoughts on it.

Visedar looked around Volantis as they passed the gates out of the city and made their way to one of the outlying ports. Noting the slave soldiers used as the cities army and watch frowning at the thought that slaves would be trusted with such important roles, after all while the freeholds and the emperor both made use of slave soldiers in their armies they were always merely used as a force magnifier for their true professional armies made up of trueborn Valyrian soldiers. The fact that almost all of the free cities made use of this method of war struck Visedar as incredibly foolish, after all a true soldier fighting for his nation would always be better than some slave fighting for their masters.

Noticing were their leader was looking Jaerion spoke up "I was surprised as well when I discovered that Volantis like many of the other free cities relied so heavily on mercenaries and slave soldiers. But I think it is somewhat understandable after all the wars between them have been going on for so long it is probably better to make use of disposable armies of slaves, rather than allow their own people to die."

"I suppose in that sort of situation it makes sense. But such armies are near worthless in wars of true conquest were the soldiers have a vested interest in ensuring their peoples power and prosperity." Replied Vanor mirroring Visedar's earlier thoughts.

"It will make them easier to conquer, should they reject the emperors generous offer." Sneered Virys his voice tinged with anger at the emperor's decree concerning the scions of the Targaryen's.

Visedar decided that they had conversed enough and ordered the party to make haste to the bay. They had decided to go a sea route in order to quickly make their way to Lys one of the most likely places to find their targets since their appearance would be much less obvious in a city where the blood of Valyria still held so much purchase. While on their way to the docks however, they encountered a large group of armed men bearing a fork-tailed blue-and-white banner lead by an elderly man in full though light plate armour that carried himself with a strength that belied his otherwise tattered appearance

"Greetings, I am the leader of the windblown mercenary company, you may call me the Tattered Prince, I believe we have a great deal to talk about. Who speaks for you?" Asked the now named prince his hand held near enough to his sword hilt to make a statement, but not enough to be a threat.

Visedar stepped forward, calmly noting that there were other mercenaries hidden in the alleys surrounding them. "I speak for my group. What do we have to discuss that would require such security?" asked Visedar gesturing to the hidden groups.

"You met several of my men in a tavern a few days ago did you not, Harden Lannister and his boys, remember?" Replied the tattered prince "We found out from the tavern owner that they had a little bit of a confrontation with you. We found the bodies out back in an alley, rats and such had gotten what the gutter trash didn't. but there was still enough left for Hardens brother to recognise him."

The tattered prince gestured to one of the fully armoured soldiers standing next to him, unlike his leader this man wore heavy plate armour and carried a great sword. As the man removed his helmet Visedar saw that he did bare quit the resemblance to his brother, with long golden hair and bright green eyes. But he also differed from his brother in a number of ways, being at least three years older and much more solidly built, with a good few inches of height compared to any of his companions. After throwing his helmet to the ground he drew his sword and waited gesturing for Visedar to do the same.

"I hated my brother he was weak and easily provoked, a bad combination. But I will not let his death go unanswered. I am Trevyr hill bastard of house Lannister. I wish for single combat with the leader of my brother's killers draw your sword." Stated the now named Trevyr.

Visedar noted that he would be a much more challenging opponent than his brother, clearly the man was a skilled fighter with a weapon that would offer a greater reach than his own. But the two handed nature of the weapon meant that he would be unable to wield a shield, sacrificing a great deal of his defence that was only partly made up for by his plate armour. "An aggressive fighter most likely, I should be able to wear him down after only a short time, his armour will offer some protection. but I should be able to cut through it with a heavy enough strike after he gets tired." thought Visedar.

"Very well, I accept your challenge." Yelled Visedar making sure that his own companions knew not to interfere in the battle. Drawing his own sword and shield Visedar heard several onlookers gasp at the site of his weapon, dragon steel was after all rather rare in this time he had gathered. The two opponents circled each other, their companions shouting encouragement and insults at the pair. With a yell Trevyr charged, his sword slashing from the side with enough force that if it connected would nearly cut Visedar in half, had he not managed to deflect the blow with his own sword. Visedar responded by smashing his shield into his opponent's chest with enough force to make him stumble back.

Though Visedar was unable make use of the opportunity, as Trevyr recovered and began a rapid offensive that slowly pushed Visedar to the edge of the crowd, Visedar was barely able to block one of the blows in time with his shield arm, the shield protecting him from the loss of his arm, though he did feel the bone crack slightly with the force behind the strike. Suppressing a yell of pain Visedar used it as motivation and began his own offensive. Managing to slash one of Trevyr's legs in an attempt to slow his offensive, the dragon steel blade making a mockery of the heavy steel armour. as blood began to pore onto the ground beneath them. Trevyr yelled out in pain as he dropped his blade, before grabbing Visedar's sword arm and throwing him across the makeshift arena into the crowd, quickly limping after him Trevyr kicked his enemies sword away from him as he reached for Visedar.

Grabbing Visedar by the throat, Trevyr lifted him to his feet and began savagely beating him fully prepared to beat Visedar to death. However, just as Trevyr prepared to launch another attack at the last second Visedar struck Trevyr's injured leg, forcing him to let go as he clutched his leg in pain. Visedar then crawled his way to his sword, grabbing it in his uninjured hand Visedar attempted to stand, until Trevyr grabbed his leg dragging him closer in an attempt to continue his earlier beating him. Making use of the opportunity Visedar thrust his sword upwards as he was turned onto his back, striking Trevyr in the heart and as he gasped in shock Trevyr fell to the ground on top of him, until members from both groups lifted him off.

"Well done sir, I lost hope for a while there but you pulled it off in the end!" laughed Vanor patting his leader on the shoulder.

"I for one never doubted your chances sir, but I don't think we are out of the woods yet." Said Virys.

Visedar noted that the tattered prince had yet to disperse his forces, and was instead walking calmly towards him. When they were only a swords length apart, the tattered prince suddenly started clapping followed by his men.

"Well done boy, you killed one of my best soldiers, a great achievement. But now we have another situation to deal with." He stated.

"And what's that, the man that sought vengeance is dead. What more business do you have with my group?" Questioned Visedar.

"Simple really you killed several of my men making my company weaker, I think it is only fair that you and your group join my company to pay back the cost." Explained the tattered prince.

Realising that the mercenary leader was not giving them an option and that if they refused they would be killed and their mission finished before it could even begin, Visedar quickly agreed to the ultimatum. Something that greatly pleased the tattered prince.

"Where will the company be going… sir?" Asked Visedar barely managing to speak the last word without revulsion at being reduced to such a position.

"We are going to Qohor, we have been contracted to defend the city from a particularly belligerent Dothraki Khalasar that has refused to simply accept the cities tribute and move on. Oh and by the way now that you've joined just call me rags its simpler to say." Finished rags with a short laugh. Though to Visedar it seemed hollow.

"Very well then… rags, I will inform my men of our new course and loyalties." Said Visedar before heading back to his companions.

"So what's the plan sir?" asked Virys.

"We are going to be joining this tattered princes mercenary band, to work off the debt incurred by our killing of so many of his men." Replied Visedar.

"What! are we reduced to common mercenaries' sir." Hissed Vanor in frustration at their newfound situation.

"it was either that or we all die leaving our mission unfulfilled, what would you prefer Vanor?" Asked Visedar his own frustration at the situation bleeding into his voice. "We will remain a part of their group for a time, until they have let their guard down, then we will leave and continue our mission."

"And where is this band going captain?" Asked Jaerion.

"They are going to Qohor. Apparently some marauders are attacking the city" replied Visedar.

"Qohor, that is a city I have not been to in some time." Jaerion said "Our emperor began his journey to Valyria from Qohor, perhaps we too must begin our journey their as well."

"But what about our search for the Targaryen's?" Asked Vanor.

"It will simply have to wait, besides one of our primary tasks was to scout the old colonies and Qohor was the only one that we couldn't find a great deal of information on. Qohor was also the site for a great deal of magic based research, I for one am eager to find out what new discoveries may have been made even with the decline of magic." Said Jaerion the eagerness in his voice clear.

"You are far too optimistic lord sorcerer. But I suppose we shall see what happens when we get there, unfortunately it will take us some time to be able to communicate with the emperor again with so many eyes on us." Finished Visedar as the group made its way to the windblown transport ships to begin their journey.


	6. Chapter 5 Vinyx

**Hello reader, first of all i would like to once again thank everyone for the favs and follows it really does mean a lot to me.  
**

 **Now i have decided to start answering some of the questions that some of the reviwers have had starting with the latest.**

 **WeylandCorp4: To your last question most of the free cities do not have professional armies as they prefer to use sellswords or slaves (though only Volantis really makes use of slave soldiers) but their are exceptions as Braavos does have a professional navy, though i dont think it has an army and Norvos has a militant order of priests they may have been what you were thinking of.**

 **Anyway i hope that answer is satisfactory and as always everyone feedback is appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **Chapter 5 Vinyx**

It had been two months since the last council meeting and Vinyx and his forces were nearly finished with their journey to the basilisk isles. So far the fleet of 25 ships had been able to avoid detection from any nearby ships via a combination of skilled sailing to avoid the major trade routes and sorcery to hide their position when that failed. From the top deck of his flagship the ascendant flame Vinyx saw the approaching landmasses of the basilisk isles, noting the lights from the few towns around the isles, as well as docked ships, he ordered all ships to a stop, noting the large amount of fog coming to surround his fleet hiding them from any long range detection that may have been possible on the isles. Making his way below deck Vinyx saw all twelve of his ships sorcerers standing around a blue flame, thankfully with so many sorcerers working together they would not need to resort to sacrifice to fuel their magic, particularly when the spell was combined with those being used on the other ships. Noting the tired appearance of several of them Vinyx made his way over to the group's leader, a beautiful woman of strong Valyrian features her platinum hair shorter than normal, while her violet eyes showed weariness from the taxing spell greeting her Vinyx asked "how long will you be able to maintain the fog Maehra."

"The fogs will last long enough for our ships to make their final approach; the corsairs will be unable to see us until we are within close enough range to begin boarding operations, you have my word archon." Said Maehra.

"Excellent, if we are able to capture even half of their ships we will have a far stronger navy than before, without having to risking our own vessels in a long range engagement." Replied Vinyx happy that the first part of his plan was already a success.

However, their where still many issues that needed to be dealt. Such as the two ships he had sent ahead several days before as a vanguard had yet to contact him on whether or not they landed on the isle of tears, having pretended to be corsairs to gain entry. They were meant to begin a campaign of sabotage on the isle to make it easier to conquer and find out the current state of Gogossos. But if they had not landed or worse had been discovered, then Vinyx knew that his mission would become far more difficult. Going to his cabin he took out his glass candle and waited for the other leaders of the expedition to connect their own to it. After a few minutes of waiting Vinyx began to hear the reports of the various captains and legates that made up his invasion force."

"My archon the tenth legion stands ready to begin operations; we only await your word." Began legate Visevon.

"The seventh legion stands with you as well archon." Said legate Taelar.

"Good and what of the fleet admiral Vigon are preparations ready for the landing?" Asked Vinyx.

"The fleet is ready. The siege works are prepared and we will begin the bombardment of the main corsair base on talon, before our landing." replied the admiral his voice disciplined and to the point.

"Very well, we will be in range by nightfall, the boats will launch under the cover of the fog, while the siege works will begin their attack with incendiary munitions. When our forces land they must do so rapidly and take the isle before they can mount an adequate defence." Stated Vinyx outlining the invasion plan.

"it is good to go to war once more archon, my legion is eager to show these corsairs what the trueborn soldiers of Valyria can do." Said Visevon the eagerness in his voice disturbing to many of the others.

Vinyx thought over Visevon's words, the man was among the most violent legates in the old Valyrian freeholds, with many of his campaigns ending with far more bloodshed than was necessary, earning many deserved titles such as despoiler and butcher. But in this situation surrounded by pirates and other threats that sort of view could be extremely useful. "Though I will have to keep a close eye on him during the campaign. The high sorcerer had already explained the importance of gathering as many slaves as possible to fuel the rituals of Gogossos, and I can't afford him to kill every man, women and child we find on these lands." Vinyx considered how best to make use of the tenth legion and decided that to appease Visevon and make him more easy to control, his legion would be the first to make land fall in the vanguard. "With luck after the destruction of this major port the rest of the corsairs will surrender." His plans decided Vinyx explained the order of battle to the others much to the joy of Visevon and the acceptance of Taelar.

When nightfall came many of the corsair ships returned to their ports of origin, their crews drinking and whoring before stumbling to their beds. It was a testament to the lack of effort that the free cities and other powers must put into destroying them, that the corsairs can show such poor discipline and still be allowed to exist thought Vinyx in distain. Watching as half of the fleet made their way to the few ships still patrolling, he saw the fog begin to dissipate allowing the patrol ships to make out the silhouettes of his assault fleet, this was quickly followed by many of the patrol ships panicking and attempting to flee back to their port. The parts of the patrol fleet that stood their ground where likely either the more bloodthirsty or dutiful corsairs with some modicum of loyalty to their leaders, though Vinyx highly doubted the latter.

The vessels that attempted to flee were easily caught up to by the Valyrian ships, their panicked crews easily taken by the trueborn and janissary boarders as they surrendered to save their own lives, while the vessels that chose to make a stand proved to be more difficult to capture. the sounds of battle echoing through the now lighter fog, as the metal clashed against metal and the screams of the dead and dying. Vinyx watched for the signal that would show that a ship had been captured, and slowly but steadily each enemy vessel gave a small flash to signal that the ship was taken. Slowly silence began to return to the waters around the port as the battle ended. But Vinyx knew that the it was more than likely that that the inhabitants of the small town had heard the short but intense battle, and so he ordered that the siege vessels make their way forward, before the defenders had a chance to make a proper stand.

As the trebuchets were loaded with incendiary munitions, Vinyx watched the remainder of his forces move to their landing boats, each of them was large enough for twenty people to stand in comfortably. The front sections larger than the rest of the ship to protect the passengers from enemy archers and when on land it would fall to create a ramp allowing for ease of debarkation, while each landing craft also had a scorpion to offer the landing parties cover fire and to assist in breaking enemy formation. The siege ships began their attack their destructive payloads soaring through the air before striking the town causing raging firestorms that consumed a number of structures, and from the screams a number of the towns inhabitants.

Watching the corsairs start forming along the beach as the landing craft approached, via the viewing ability of his glass candle Vinyx signalled for heavy artillery to stop and the ballistae to begin their attack, their missiles striking multiple men down at once, as they disrupted and demoralised the defenders. All the while the landing craft made their way closer to the enemies, and as the first of them made land fall the janissaries of the seventh legion exploded out, creating a shield wall to defend themselves from enemy archers. While the scorpion began firing striking down the first few corsair attack waves and making a mockery of any armour they may have been wearing. The janissary and scorpion fire were able to create a number of breaches that the next wave of forces was able to use, slowly but surely the entirety of the seventh legion landed and began their advance killing any and all that got in their way.

The next stage of the advance utilised the superior training and equipment of the trueborn, as they marched in formation allowing maximum protection from enemy archers, while also being able to push back the enemies frenzied counter charges. Seeing that they would be unable to hold the beach, and having seen the Valyrians strike down all that attempted to surrender, the corsair army began to fall back until they reached the edges of the still burning town, unable to retreat any further they prepared to make a final stand, ready to take as many of the Valyrian soldiers with them as possible. Realising their plan Vinyx saw Visevon smile as he orders his force to begin a slow advance towards the enemy. Watching the Valyrians come closer their shields arranged in such a way as to become a wall with each janissary holding a spear in between the shield gaps many of the corsairs began to panic, most of them shifting nervously slowly tightening together, while others ran into the burning town in a vain attempt to survive or charged the shield wall believing they could break through.

Vinyx frowned as he saw many of the corsairs throw down their weapons and fall to their knees clearly surrendering, yet Visevon never ordered his unit to stop, the mixed janissary and trueborn army continued its slow methodical slaughter as it tightened preventing the enemy from retreat. Seeing that surrender was impossible many of the corsairs simply began to charge the shields in a blind panic those that had dropped their weapons simply punching or attempting to wrench the shields away, and while they managed to slay several of the lightly armoured janissaries, their frenzied attacks combined with their inability to pierce the heavy armour of the trueborn meant that they were simply hastening their own deaths.

Shortly after this final effort the last of the corsair was killed and the banner of the seventh legion raised on the beach to show their victory. During this point the fires in the town spread out of control, completely destroying it before they could be put out, this lead the now landed tenth legion to assist the seventh in the building of a large temporary base of operations with only small parties from both legions attempting to salvage what they could of the town and its inhabitants.

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An hour late Vinyx landed and made his way to the primary command tent in the heart of their ever expanding fortified camp. Looking at the command staff already surrounding the map of the island, Vinyx made his way to the head of the table before starting his briefing.

"First of all I wish to congratulate the members of the seventh legion for their victory and establishing this beachhead, with it the return of Valyria to power is one step closer." At this Visevon nodded his head in gratitude before stepping forward to address the war council.

"Thank you my archon, your words fill both my legion and myself with pride in our achievement, the battle was hard fought, it is unfortunate that they chose to fight to the death rather than surrender to our merciful care." With that said Visevon retook his place among the officers.

"Indeed, I am sure that were you able you would have brought us prisoners and not corpses. perhaps your men need more training in capturing rather than butchering the enemy." Began Maehra sneering at Visevon "After all if we are to reactivate the flesh pits within Gogossos and still have enough slaves to rebuild the city at the same time we will need as many slaves as possible."

"The enemy fought to the death if any of them attempted to surrender, I assure you we would have accepted it. but in the confusion of battle such subtle shifts in the enemy can be missed, though I would not expect someone of your profession to understand such things." Said Visevon his jaw tightening in annoyance.

"On the contrary I understand the confusion you and your men must have faced, after all a man begging on his knees for his life does look similar to a man about to attack." Replied Maehra as she glanced over at the now glaring Visevon.

Before they could contain their argument Vinyx slammed his hand onto the table to gather their attention before hissing out in anger "Enough are you trueborn sons and daughters of Valyria or spoiled children of Ghis? The matter is already resolved the enemy Is dead and we still have many more left to fight, not just on this island but on the others as well. There will be plenty of other opportunities to gather the resources we need for the ritual to reactivate the flesh pits Maehra." Turning towards the legate of the seventh legion Vinyx continued his lecture. "From now on Visevon do at least try to remember why we are here; you are fortunate that I am being so forgiving in this matter. But if you disregard one of our core objectives again I will be far less kind."

Suitably chastised both officers apologised and bowed before returning to their positions in the council. Vinyx looked around the room at the other officers before focussing on the legate of the tenth legion who upon noting his commanders gaze saluted before awaiting orders "Taelar I want your legion to begin mobilising immediately, you will head to the next designated settlement and ask for their surrender, if we are lucky they will have heard what happened here and lay down their arms and allow us in willingly, if not I want you to capture as much of the towns infrastructure and population in tact as possible do you understand?"

"Yes my archon It will be done." Stated Taelar before leaving to prepare his men to immediately head out.

"Is it wise to split our forces so quickly archon we have only just landed after all?" Asked Vigon.

"It is necessary admiral if we are to quickly capitalise on our successes and capture the remaining strongholds on talon, before fortifying it to act as our base for the future assaults and before the other isles become aware of our arrival and begin their attacks." Replied Vinyx "now onto other business. What has been done with the prisoners captured in the boarding operations and were there any survivors from the town?"

"We have captured one hundred of the town's population. The rest were killed in the fire sir; it appears that the settlements leader was addressing the bulk of the population in the town centre when the bombardment began." Reported Visevon.

"What of the prisoners captured in the initial boarding operations?" Asked Vinyx looking as he turned to the admiral.

"The vast majority of the vessels we captured chose to surrender without much of a fight once they saw how outclassed they were with only a few of them fighting to the death. Combined together we captured around five hundred sailors along with around fifteen vessels of combat quality and a dozen or so other vessels mostly fishing vessels with a few trade ships, one of which was a slave barge." Recited Vigon with the other occupants of the tent straightening at the mention of the barge.

"Really brother you neglected to inform me of this how many slaves does it contain?" Asked Maehra annoyance clear in her features and tone.

"I did not see the relevance until this meeting when the importance of gathering prisoners was released to me, the barge was of poor quality most of the slaves were already dead with around one hundred healthy slaves and another hundred and fifty of poor health remaining." Replied Vigon.

Looking towards Maehra and noting her thoughtful expression Vinyx asked if the number of captives would be useful to their war effort on talon.

"Yes my archon, I believe that if we only use the unhealthy slaves that my brother found on the barge I will be able to with the help of the other cabals secure our victory not only on this isle but also the other isles nearby, if I am correct then the only threat we will have to deal with will come from ax isle and even then they will be hesitant to come near us for some time. More than that however if this ritual is successful and in fact reaches the isle of tears then the wards around the isle will feed on the death and energy released by the ritual, this will in turn make the process of the cities wakening easier to the extent that we will only need the few hundred remaining prisoners to reactivate the flesh pits and return the city to functionality." Finished speaking Maehra returned to her earlier position her expression disturbing Vinyx as the implications of her statement sank in.

"That seems extremely ambitious sorceress, but if you are successful our victory will be become ever closer, what exactly do you intend to do?" Asked Vinyx

"We will simply show them the truth of the world my archon, and from there they will do the rest." Replied Maehra her expression darkening.


	7. Chapter 6 Donen

**Hey readers first of all as always thank you for the favs and follows, this is the next chapter and its a little different from any of my other ones since it will not be from the point of view of the valyrians, instead its from the viewpoint of a simple volantene. I'll be honest i dont really like this chapter a whole lot but RL got in the way when i as writing it and i really cant think of how to improve it.**

 **now to answer quesions.**

 **WeylandCorp4: Sothyoros is not meant to be a place were the Valyrians are gathering vast amounts of slaves instead it is where they intend to begin buiding bases to raid other lands and without spoiling to much their are many things hidden within not only the basilisk isles but the main land as well that will strengthen Aurions armies while also containing many things that will act as both allies and enemies of Valyria.**

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **Chapter 6 Donen**

Gasping for breath Donen ran to the docks having been listening to the fishmongers and other port traders gossiping in Fishmonger's Square about the six ships making their way to the bay. "I hear the middle ones longer than the black walls of old Volantis are tall." Came the gossiping voice of one of the old fish wives, "Bah you'll believe anything. Its big I'll grant you but nothings that big would sail." Countered one of the sailors as they brought in their haul, dumping the fish into one of the nearby barrels. Having finally arrived Donen started regaining his breath, making his way through the great harbour Donen saw the outline of the ships coming ever closer. A small crowd had gathered as well. Everyone was curious about the ships ever since the first fishermen returned with tales of them moving slowly towards Volantis, some of the fishermen even swore that the ships were coming from the direction of Valyria or at least the smoking sea, though no one believed that, after all nothing comes from those lands anymore.

Donen watched as the galleys of Volantis made their way towards the ships their bronze sails rustling in the wind, while their red varnished hulls shone in the sun. The strange vessels appeared to have been expecting this and had come to a stop, their own strange almost silver sails barely rustling in the strong winds. From his position near the front of the crowd Donen was able to make out some details of the ships, including the fact that the fish wife was right the lead ship was massive making both its own escort and the approaching Volantene vessels seem more like a collection of fish trailing a great whale. The ship had the same silver like sails as the others, as well as a massive structure that dominated a large amount of the ships length making it seem more like a floating fortress or palace than a ship. But even from this distance Donen could make out the shape of great ballistae's, along with strange tube like protrusions in the front of the ship though he had no idea what they would be for. Eventually the Volantene galleys made it to the unknown ships with two of them anchoring themselves near the main ship looking comical next to its great size as they began to investigate the ships and interview the crews as to their intentions.

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An hour later Donen saw that the ships were now moving closer to the docks flanked by the Volantene vessels. Now that the ships were closer he had a far clearer view of them including the strange ornate designs that covered them with dragons and sphinxes seeming to play an important role with many of the devices. Donen also noticed that the strange tubes he had noticed on the main ship were also on the other vessels and from his new view he could see that each of the tubes had a dragon head design on the end, while smaller tubes dotted the ships facing in many different directions, Donen also noticed that the ships also had a large number of ballistae's and trebuchets. But above all Donen kept his gaze on the main ship, and as it came closer Donen was sure that whoever had built it must have used magic to lift a palace from the earth and give it the ability to float, for how else could such a thing exist.

Done noticed that one of their own galleys was rapidly approaching the harbour and for a moment felt pity for the poor slave oar men that were forced to keep up such a speed, but the galley eventually made its way to one of the piers dedicated to the navy. The captain of the vessel one of the few among the old blood that deigned to join the military quickly ran to the nearest messenger slave and ordered that the most elegant palanquin be brought to the docks as quickly as possible. At this Donen heard many of the crowd begin to murmur after all while it was common for highborn guests to use hathays to travel across Volantis without siling themselves by touching the earth palanquins were usually only used for the very highest of the noble born or the wealthiest of merchants. This action and from one of the old blood no less only solidified the feelings of many that the owner of those ships must have been of the highest standing imaginable.

As the lead ship finally made its way to one of the larger piers within the grand harbour, Donen made his way there to catch a glimpse of whoever could own such ships. He watched as a ramp was lowered from the titanic vessel and like the rest of the onlookers was startled when he heard the thunderous noise of metal on wood as strange soldiers began to march down the ramp. Donen watched as many of the onlookers recoiled at the sneering bestial helmets of the soldiers, each of which was heavily armoured almost like the Westerosi knights he had heard tails of when he was younger, however unlike those stories were the knights wore shining armour these knights all wore blackened armour as though covered in the soot of some great fire while their shields were decorated with images of dragons all worked in bronze and each of them had a hand on the hilt of their sword as though daring someone to have them draw it.

A few moments later as the situation was becoming tense, and the people began whispering about the strange soldiers, Donen noticed that a large palanquin was being brought forward the twelve heavily muscled slaves carrying it sweating in the heat. While at least twenty tiger cloaks escorted it forward their intimidating steel tiger helmets and viscous clawed gauntlets being proof enough of their identity. As the palanquin finally arrived at the base of the ramp the strange warriors began to separate forming into two vertical lines facing the crowd slowly forcing them back. When it appeared that they were satisfied one of the more ornately armoured soldiers stepped forward his helm and chest plate had strange glyph designs that he found it difficult to focus on. After taking a look at the crowd the soldier began to raise a horn to his lips and blew three short notes, after this Donen heard movement on the boat as more figures began to walk down.

The first six figures to reach the ground wore purple robes with metal veils that completely covered their faces with strange metal orbs attached to belts along with strange wave patterned knives that appeared almost like someone had turned fire to steel, they made their way to stand at the front of the palanquin along with a number of the soldiers and tiger cloaks. After them came another six robed figures these ones lacked the chainmail veils and instead had silk based ones, they also lacked the metal orbs though they did have the same daggers as the first group they made their way to the sides of the palanquin. Donen started to wonder what the purpose the men in robes had. The ones at the front seemed almost like guards, though they lacked any armour that he could see and their daggers would be of little use compared to the swords carried by the soldiers. The figures at the sides seemed even less likely to be guards lacking even the minor armour worn by the others.

His musings were stopped when he heard the crowd around him gasp in shock, as he looked around he saw the looks of shock, fear and desire that many of the people had frozen onto their faces as they looked at the top of the ramp. Donen turned to see what they were looking at and he too froze an expression of awe on his features as he looked at the figure that stood there. He had never before seen anyone that was so beautiful, so perfect his long silver hair moving with the wind along with a long white cloak that hid the majority of his body from view as he began to make his way down the ramp, Donen was stunned as he looked at the pale figure as he glided down the ramp his armoured boots scarcely making a sound. The next thing that Donen noticed was his armour that became visible in some areas as the cloak moved, it was a strange black scale armour like nothing he had ever seen before. The scales were the same soot black as the other soldier's armour, but they were edged in bronze that shined far brighter than such a metal should naturally, and as he looked closer at the armour he saw strange ripples and glyphs that hurt his eyes when he looked at them for too long.

It was then that Donen realised that the armour was Valyrian steel and with that thought he realised why the man had such a heavy guard, such an armour would be worth most of the gold within Volantis, clearly this man was a wealthy trader or foreign king Donen then looked at the man's face again and was startled when he saw the man looking straight at him, his purple eyes almost glowing in the light as Donen stared at the man, he grew more and more disturbed as he began to note details in the man's features that he had not noticed at first, were once he had though the man extraordinarily handsome he now saw that the man's face was cruel in it perfections more like a statue than a true person, and as he gazed into the man's eyes he saw a deep rooted madness hidden within their depths, the sort of madness which would make a man do anything to get what he wanted. "Only a fool would go against a man with eyes like that." Donen thought to himself in slight terror as he released a breath he didn't even know he was holding, as the man turned away before making his way into the palanquin.

"I think I'll try and get dad to let us leave the city for a while." Donen thought as the crowd disbursed "at least until that ship leaves the harbour anyway."


	8. Chapter 7 Aurion

**hello readers as always thank you for the favs and follows, now i am very sorry that i did not have a chapter to post on saturdaylike i promised but i was stuck onthe ending of this chapter for a several days thinking how i could improve it but in the i have decided to let you guys see it i hope that it's good.**

 **Also thank you Donroth for the review it meant a great deal to me and i hope that youcontinue to enjoy the fic.**

 **as always everyone feedback is appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **Chapter 7 Aurion**

Aurion sat within the comfortable interior of the palanquin as it made its way through the busy market places and onto one of the more well maintained paths towards the long bridge that would take him to old Volantis past the black walls. As he made his way through the streets Aurion noted the various sites within the city, the thousands of shops and market stalls containing goods from across the world, as well as the thousands of slaves and freedmen that maintained them as he made his closer to the long bridge he noted the decapitated statues and the thousands of thieves hands that hung from various building and arches. Though he was unconcerned about the hands he was disturbed that so many thieves could exist within the city, and began to wonder how effective their enforcement policies were and how they would be improved when he had control over the colony.

"I hope that the palanquin is to your liking it was the finest available on such short notice, um forgive me I do not know how I should address you? Is it lord freeholder or simply lord?" Asked Vaemys Valnaris one of the two occupants that sat opposite him within the palanquin. She had been introduced to Aurion by Aevar, who captained one of the vessels that had confronted his own ship when they first arrived. She was exceptionally beautiful for one of such comparatively low birth which she and her family attributed to strong influence from one of their ancestors Daemorys Meltaris. A low ranked Valyrian Dragonlord who fell in love with one of the women in her family during the second spice war against the Rhoynar.

"The palanquin is perfect, and as for my title it is emperor, I gave up my freeholds when I gained that title and instead took dominion over Valyria itself, something that a mere freeholder could never have done. However, you may call me Aurion in private, that goes for you as well Aevar. I dislike formality when I am among friends and we are friends aren't we?" asked Aurion smiling slightly at the confused looks the two shared.

"O-of course A-Aurion, I hope that in time our newfound friendship will benefit us all as well as both Volantis and Valyria." Replied Vaemys having regained her composure.

"Indeed I knew from the moment I met you that Volantis would be better served to ally with you than to fight against you or remain neutral. Together all those that have mocked Volantis and disrespected the memory of Valyria behind their wine glasses forgetting our birth right, forgetting our destiny will burn." Stated Aevar the fervour in his eyes difficult to deny.

 _"A true believer he will prove useful in the wars ahead."_ Aurion thought smiling before turning towards his other companion "And you Vaemys? What are your thoughts on a resurgent Volantis under the direction of Valyria?"

Vaemys looked up at Aurion as she considered his words before replying "I agree; I believe that the world would be greatly improved if Volantis entered a _partnership_ with Valyria. Together we could restore much needed order to the free cities and eventually lands even further afield. Just as we did all those years ago."

 _"She has spirit; she will be very interesting to work with."_ Aurion thought with a note of respect, noting her desire for an equal partnership with Valyria rather than a full return to vassalage. _"Many of my advisors and legates will disagree, but perhaps that is what will be needed for the future. Rather than a full return to old ways, at least for now anyway."_

"I hope that your triarchs will share your views in this matter, and the benefits that it will have for both of our peoples." Aurion said before looking out the window of the palanquin to see that they had approached the long bridge and were now able to see the black walls that protected old Volantis. Though not before he noticed the uneasy glances his companions shared.

"I am afraid that some of the triarchs may not share our… convictions or desires to see our peoples return to glory." Vaemys said a note of unease in her voice. "Many of the triarchs have over the centuries merely sought to maintain the status quo and secure their own power, rather than strengthen our people."

"I see are there any among them that would be allies to m-our cause? I confess I know little of the politics within the city." Aurion asked

"There is one he has been the only tiger among the triarchs for the last several decades his name is Malaquo Maegyr but he is old and it is not unheard of for old men to die suddenly." Began Aevar "if that were to happen things would be far more difficult for us."

"I see, as I said I do not know a great deal about your political system. Though it is similar to the freehold system there seem to have been divergences, are their no lower councils to aid in deciding who will take his place should such a thing happen?" Aurion asked

"No while the old families do have a great deal of influence in deciding who becomes a triarch during the elections, they have no power over who will become one outside of that point. Instead the triarchs themselves elect a possible replacement from the candidates that failed to gain a seat." Replied Vaemys.

"I see, and do either of you know anyone that attempted to gain a seat but failed in the last election?" Aurion began. "Preferably someone that would be at least sympathetic to our cause."

"My father was involved in the last election and while he was somewhat successful, but many within the old city still favoured the views of the elephants at the time." Aevar replied frowning at the thought.

"I see and is he as dedicated as you are to the cause of Volantis?" Aurion asked.

"My father is the one that inspired me Aurion. He is considered by many within the old city to be a firebrand and in recent months his views have only been vindicated." Aevar replied.

"Really, how so?" Aurion asked curious at what was happening in Essos it had after all been little over two months since Visedar had last contacted him.

"Lys, Tyrosh and Myr have begun fighting over the disputed lands again, so far it has not been to serious but trade has been disrupted and the people in the city are now starting to feel it. This combined with the now lower population and military might of Volantis has meant that Volantis has become second in strength to Braavos, so long as the struggles between the other free cities continues without something being done about it then Volantis will continue to stagnate, while Braavos becomes stronger secure from attack or economic hardship. Yet through all of it the triarchs do nothing, every time Malaquo tries to call a vote for war to regain order within the disputed lands or a stronger military presence within the city to at least strengthen our position he is voted down by the others." Vaemys stated her voice filled with frustration about the state of the city.

"I see, you both have my word that Valyria will aid you in these matters, together we will regain all that we have lost and more. I will not allow the weakness of the few to get in the way of the strong." his word given Aurion sat back onto the comfortable pillows of the palanquin looking out the window and noting the various sights. They had already reached the other side of the bridge the black walls of old Volantis towering over them casting a great shadow over the lands around it. Aurion noted the great temple of R'hllor surrounded but thousands of worshippers of all backgrounds from the lowest slaves to the highest of the freemen. All watched over by the tiger cloaks as they gazed down from the top of the great walls.

"Tell me do the old blood now worship this R'hllor as well or do you still revere the gods of Valyria?" Aurion asked more out of boredom than any real interest.

"We still worship the gods of Valyria. Though the lord of light is revered across Essos making it unwise to challenge it openly." Aevar replied.

"Interesting." Was all Aurion had to say to it before once more looking out the window as they passed they passed through the gates.

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The old city in many ways reminded Aurion of a smaller version of Valyria with its great statues and buildings of black stone. He noted the many grand palaces and the occasional temple devoted to one of the Valyrian gods as well as those that inhabited the city, their Valyrian features marking them as members of the old blood. However unlike Valyria there were few massive towers or domed structures to allow for dragons to rest and while grand, many of the older buildings were relatively Spartan when compared to the opulence that would be found in similar Valyrian palaces. While the final thing that showed the difference was the massive number of elephants that navigated through the streets with the largest carrying one or more members of the old blood in elegant litters while the smaller ones pulled the ornate hathays that carried much of the rest of the population.

As the palanquin approached the palace of the triarchs it was intercepted by the guards, who quickly stated that only Aurion and two guards would be permitted entry to the council chambers. Preparing to disembark Vaemys quickly laid a hand upon Aurion's arm before saying that he must stay within the palanquin for only those of low birth and slaves walk upon the ground within the old city. After this his two companions left on a hathay while the majority of his guard took position around the palace while the slaves took the palanquin into the palace passing a variety of sculptures, paintings and stained glass windows, all of them magnificent and all of them showing the might of Volantis and the wisdom of the triarchs.

 _"how subtle of them."_ thought Aurion rolling his eyes at the obvious political ploy of awing your opponent before meeting them in an attempt to catch them off guard.

Eventually the palanquin made it to the audience chamber a massive chamber at the centre of the palace there were no windows here only braziers of various sizes with a single massive one in the centre of the room. The slaves placed the palanquin upon a raised dais before quickly bowing before leaving the chamber the large gate booming closed as they did so. There were three other massive gates surrounding the chamber each of them with a symbol of a tiger ready to pounce and an elephant on its hind legs each of them encrusted with silver and gold with what appeared to be Dragon-steel edging around the animals themselves. the rest of the was room was typical of what he had come to expect of Volantis, various sculptures and other art forms of tigers and elephants with the occasional image of some great victory over one of the other free cities.

"it would seem that in this time artistic variety has become a dying art." Aurion mumbled to his guards growing both annoyed and bored with the constant images of elephants and tigers with no other form of artistry.

"Indeed my emperor, I wonder do you think the triarchs will identify themselves as the animal of their party or some such?" Asked one of the two robed figures next to him chuckling slightly at the thought, their metal veil glimmering in the fire light.

"let us hope not Laerys, I doubt I could take a man that identifies himself as an elephant seriously." Aurion replied with a small smile.

Just as they had finished their short conversation they heard a deep rumbling coming closer shortly followed by the ground vibrating slightly. Eventually the plodding noise gave way to the sound the massive gates opening and from each gate three guards came clad in the steel and leather armour of the tiger cloaks though only two of each group had the signature helmets of the group with their leader's faces exposed proudly revealing the green tiger stripes tattooed across their cheeks. After them once more Aurion heard the plodding steps of what he now identified as elephants as from each gate came one of the three triarchs each of them sitting on a throne atop their elephants each of which was richly decorated in gems with gold covered tusks. Their riders were no less decorated with two of them carrying a jewel encrusted dagger though in the case of the third he stead wield a sword that was slightly less ostentations in terms of jewels with a few emeralds on the eyes of tigers that covered scabbard.

Each of them Aurion noted was old and for the most part soft though the tiger who Aurion assumed must be Malaquo Maegyr must have been a warrior is his youth, as he still held himself with a measure of discipline and strength despite his advanced age. The other two however where fat and weak in appearance, clearly they had never truly worked for anything in their lives to get to their positions. Aurion hid his contempt for the two moneylenders before giving a small bow of respect, though none of the three returned it, much to his barely concealed annoyance.

"Greetings honoured triarchs of Volantis. I am Aurion ruler of the reborn Valyrian empire. I hope that today will mark the beginning of a long renewed friendship between our peoples" Aurion waited for their response to his announcement hoping that it would be favourable, but noting the looks on their faces he knew it would not be.

"Yes, we have heard of you and your great vessels. They caused quite a stir within the population such things can only disrupt trade." Began one of the triarchs.

"Indeed and in these trying times or Volantis such disruptions are both unneeded and unwanted." Stated another.

Through it all the oldest member of the trio Malaquo remained strangely silent merely watching the events unfold around him. As his counterparts criticised Aurion's coming to Volantis. Aurion himself began to grow increasingly annoyed at the criticism of these men, who were these vermin to lecture him. Volantis was little better than a military outpost in his time, ruled over by lesser nobles and low ranked commanders and yet now their descendants thought to lecture him a member of the highest tier of the forty families who chose to return during Valyria's darkest our when all others fled from it. schooling his features and attempting to remain calm Aurion began to speak.

"If my arrival has so inconvenienced you triarch, why exactly did you grant me this audience?"

"You were granted this audience so that we might measure your words and uncover the truth, so what are you hmm? some wealthy Lysian whoreson, masquerading as the blood of Valyria trying to manipulate us?" asked the first of the triarchs the jowls on his face vibrating as he sneered.

"No I am Aurion first emperor of Valyria, former archon of Qohor and chosen of the gods."

"Your history needs some work boy Valyria had no kings, no emperors, only the lord freeholders who were elected to their positions." Stated the first triarch

"Indeed you should have picked a better false name as well, after all the last man to have that name was a fool who charged into the flames of the fall and was destroyed for it! since then the name Aurion is only associated with doomed causes." Sneered the second triarch.

This produced a response from Aurion though most likely not the one that the triarchs desired as he threw one of the large braziers surrounding the meeting hall to the ground the flames and hot coals pouring over him while the heat caused the tiger cloaks to recoil covering their faces to protect them from the heat while the triarchs were blinded by a flash of light as one of Aurion's guards threw one of the orbs covering their bodies into one of the braziers closest to them stunning everyone in the room but the Valyrians. When they finally regained control of their senses and bodies and returned their gaze to Aurion, they found not a burning husk of some fool but Aurion standing tall his silken robes turned to ashes around him his rippled Valyrian armour revealed and covered in soot, while the coals smouldered around him highlighting him in a red glow.

The triarchs paled as they saw the now glaring Aurion his robed guards having drawn their weapons each of them wielding a dragon steel blade dripping with blood, their steel veils glimmering in the remaining fire light, their own guard's bodies littering the floor having been killed in the confusion of Aurion's demonstration.

"Fire cannot kill a Dragonlord triarchs. Now if this is not proof enough of my claims and the generosity of my offers are not enough to sway you then perhaps the people will have to elect some new triarchs?" Aurion said his anger palpable as he glared at the triarchs, particularly the one that had brought the revelation of his names new meaning to his attention.

"Well now, it's been a good few years since we have had a meeting that turned out to be this exciting wouldn't you say Nyessos, Doniphos?" Began Malaquo attempting to project an air of amusement though the fear in his violet eyes showed his true feelings on the matter.

"I-indeed we apologise for our earlier actions. W-we are eager to hear your words E-emperor Aurion." Stated the now named Doniphos unlike Malaquo he did not attempt to disguise his fear at the situation, as he looked from his dead guards to the scowling face of Aurion.

"Yes please know that our earlier remarks were fuelled by the thought of someone masquerading as a child of Valyria let alone it leader." Said Nyessos bowing his head in apology his tone simpering while his eyes darted around the room fearfully.

Aurion looked over the now chastised triarchs with a small smile that quickly turned to a frown as heard the sound of armoured boots approaching from the gates, before they were burst open revealing dozens of tiger cloaks their weapons drawn and prepared to strike down Aurion and his guards. Before the meeting could descend any further into chaos, Malaquo raised his hand and ordered the tiger cloaks to sheath their weapons. As they hesitated to comply looking over the other two triarchs for confirmation, Malaquo glared at his colleagues to go along with his command and in their already fearful state his colleagues quickly agreed with him in order to escape his fierce glare.

Slowly the majority of the tiger cloaks left the room taking their dead comrades with them, leaving only a small group to guard the triarchs. As Aurion looked over the triarchs watching as they began to calm down from their earlier panic. He considered if he had perhaps been to rash in his actions, but the thought that his legacy had been so tarnished, combined with their disrespect had forced him to act. Besides he thought it will at least give them pause before they try and have me killed he thought. But he also noted that they were already scheming how to use the events to their advantage, some of them most likely would attempt to assassinate him later on when they believed themselves safe from reprisal while Malaquo appeared to be the opposite his expression merely thoughtful.

"I am so glad that you all agree with me. I think now all of that unpleasantness is out of the way we will finally be able to come to an agreement that will be make both sides very happy in the long run" Aurion began smiling widely as he spoke "I think this may be the start of a wonderful friendship between us. Don't you?"


	9. Chapter 8 Vinyx

**Hello everyone i would first like to apologise for the** ** _extreme_** **lateness of this chapter i have no real excuse but as a way of apologising this chapter will be the longest one yet and will contain my first major battle scene so please give feedback and let me know if its any good, also later on today or tommorrow i will be posting an interlude so watch out for that. now as always thank you for the faves and follows they really mean allot to me.**

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **Chapter 8 Vinyx**

It had been two days since they had made landfall and Vinyx had already reported his progress to the high sorcerer who now ruled Valyria till the emperor returned from Volantis. Vinyx hoped that the emperors mission would be successful and that he would be able to send him reinforcements as he realised just how many people lived on these isles and the extent of their dangers, which only seemed to have grown in their absence. Vinyx was certain that Gogossos must be at least partly responsible for some of the new dangers on the isles. Once more Vinyx wondered if resurrecting that dark city was in the best interests of Valyria, but in the he discarded such thoughts as he left the comfort of his tent and stepped into the sweltering heat outside.

As he looked around the now heavily fortified campsite he noted several gangs of slaves moving stones and wood in order to fortify the walls, while the rest set about digging small trenches into the ground forming a series of Geoglyphs and runes under the direction of Maehra's personal cabal. Vinyx noted that the head sorceress herself was directing the efforts of a group of them herself near the centre of the camp, where the useless slaves were to be sacrificed in the ritual that would take place later in the day. Already he could feel the magic pulsing and while he had never focused on those senses he knew that whatever the sorceress was planning was going to be powerful, though she had still not told him exactly what the ritual was meant to do and as they approached the time of the rite he found himself growing disturbed by the lack of information, particularly as he did not recognise many of the runes being made around were the slaves were to be sacrificed.

Deciding to confront the sorceress about her plans he made his way to her, the slaves bowing as he approached, while their janissary overseers saluted before ordering the slaves to leave the area. Eventually Maehra seemed to notice the presence of Vinyx as she turned to look at him before bowing her head in greeting. As he returned the greeting Vinyx took the time to look at the glyphs that had already been carved into the ground, they were not the precise runes favoured by Valyria but instead were asymmetrical and jagged seeming to shift when he stopped focussing on them. Vinyx decided that now was the time to confront the sorceress over her breach of protocol, having already guessed that she did not intend to use Valyrian magic in this ritual.

"These are not Valyrian runes sorceress, what are they? Where are they from?"

Maehra looked over at him her expression thoughtful as they considering whether or not to tell him. This action greatly annoyed Vinyx, but he knew that he could not confront or sanction her for it. There were after all aspects of magic that even one as high ranked as he did not have the right to know. Eventually she seemed to come to a decision, she calmly walked towards him and began to explain in a hushed tone.

"You are correct the runes are not Valyrian, our magic is based too much in destruction and transmutation to have the effects that will be needed if we want to both defeat the corsairs on the isles and still leave them intact. There are a number of other advantages to th- "

"You are stalling, why? you still haven't told me what the runes are? Nor what ritual you are performing, my guess is some sort of illusion but I am uncertain, my own studies in magic focused on wards and limited divination, not whatever this is." Vinyx interrupted looking over the runes that had already been placed as he looked at them he began to feel a sense of nausea, a feeling of wrongness that he had only experienced when in the presence of blood mages and their works but as he thought on it longer he remembered another time he had that feeling, when his legion had joined forces with Yi-TI to push back a major offensive from the, Vinyx eyes suddenly widened as his features became furious.

"These runes are from K'Dath! What madness possessed you too use such vile works? You could bring ruin upon us all!" Vinyx hissed shocked at Maehra plan and angry with himself for not investigating sooner.

Maehra quickly began looking around to see If anyone had overheard their words, but noting that they were alone she began to whisper her response her tone insistent.

"I understand that you are disturbed, but try to remain calm this ritual will use aspects of K'Dath magic yes, but it will be contained and manipulated by Valyrian runes so that we can direct it were we want. This is a necessary evil archon, already the corsairs are mobilising some clearly managed to escape the tenths and relay what was happening here, we are outnumbered, they will drown us in bodies and all we have accomplished so far will have been for nothing! We must use all the tools we have at our disposal if we are to be victorious."

Vinyx knew that she was correct he had read the scouting reports. there were over sixty thousand corsairs in the surrounding isles, with numerous other threats as well. Already his forces had been raided by something that the locals called the brindled men and while they had been driven back the damage they did was notable, with the vile creatures having killed or captured several of their new slaves and even managed to kill a janissary. Vinyx looked over the perimeter of their camp were the mutilated bodies of the brindled men's corpses had been put on display, to serve as a warning to any others that attempted to attack them. This combined with the rampant disease that seemed to fester in the isles had cost his forces a few more slaves and led to the weakening of several of his janissaries, thankfully some of the cabals more versed in healing magic managed to put a stop to it, though their insistence that the diseases were actively fighting against and actually adapting to their treatments before the remaining slaves and soldiers were cured raised many unsettling theories in his mind. But in the end while each crisis had been ended all any of it did was buy time, while their already weak grip on talon became worse.

"Very well, I will not interfere with your works. you are certain that you will be able to contain the energy of the spell? The magic's of K'Dath are well known for their… instability as well as their power." Vinyx said resigned to the necessity of the sorceress's actions.

"I am certain. This will work the energies will be contained and will not go beyond the isles. The energies released both by the spell and the deaths it will cause should also serve to energise the wards within Gogossos making it easier to awaken it, when we finally reach the isle of tears." Maehra replied her tone confident, though perhaps too over confident Vinyx thought.

"I will leave you too work then. Let us hope that the-" Vinyx words were cut off as he heard sounds of a struggle followed by several screams of pain, as he turned his head he noticed that several of the slaves in one of the work groups responsible for the construction of the fortifications were writhing on the ground, their hands clutching the iron collars around their necks, while one of the overseers had his hands outstretched muttering a mantra as the rest of their work group watched in fear. It had been decided that the collars would be more useful than chaining the slaves together, as they would allow the slaves to work unhindered, while still allowing their overseers to control them and prevent escape. The collars would simply heat up rapidly when the overseer they were tied to willed it while speaking a focusing mantra, the collars would do the same should the slaves leave the perimeter of the camp.

Vinyx made his way to the overseers, noting that the screams had drawn the attention of the other work groups, who had stopped their work to look at the display of magic and in their eyes cruelty. Vinyx quickly gestured to the overseers to get their groups back to work, before stopping in front of the overseer administering the slave's punishment.

"What happened here? And you can stop now, you are causing a spectacle." Vinyx ordered looking at the now whimpering slaves as the overseer lessened the amount of power being placed into the collars. Already Vinyx could see the that most of the slaves being punished had reddened skin around the edge of the collars, most likely there would be some burn scars on some of them, but the majority would recover quickly, so there should no great loss of productivity among this work group.

"Archon, one of the slaves attempted to incite the others in his group to attempt to attack us. From what we understand he believed that if he could kill us quickly he could steal the keys to their collars and escape into the jungle. The majority of the work group seems to have disagreed but some aided him in making weapons and planning an attack. They seem to have misjudged the power of the collars and the loyalty of the other slaves however, as before they could strike one of the slaves cried out a warning to us, we activated the collars to a medium setting and disabled the unruly ones before the situation could deteriorate, we hope that this will keep the others in line and prevent a repeat among other work groups. I ask for your forgiveness sir, we should have noticed what they were planning sooner, we will be more diligent in the future." Finishing his statement both overseers bowed, before stepping back their expressions a mix of embarrassment and anger.

"Very well, I expect you will to be far more alert in the future." Vinyx started scowling at the oversees, before turning his attention to the six slaves that even now were silently whimpering their expressions a mixture of pain and resignation at their situation, while the one that had been marked as the leader looked at Vinyx with an expression of defiance at his situation. "Take the ringleader of this incident to the cage with the other sacrifices, as for the rest of his friends let us hope they learn from what happens to him and grant the slave that warned you respite from work for the rest of the day and increase their rations for the next week, loyalty should be rewarded after all."

"Yes archon!" Both overseers replied before forcing the ringleader to stand before one of them dragged him to the cage near the camps centre. He then gestured to one of the slaves to follow him to the slave quarters, Vinyx assumed that this was the slave that aided them, the remaining overseer began to issue orders to his shaken work group as they began to return to their work, with only the occasional flinch when the overseer raised his hand.

Vinyx made his way to the other overseers making sure that they all understood that some of the slaves may be planning future rebellions, but in the end Vinyx doubted they would do anything, particularly after the ritual that would be taking place that night, were they would all see what happens to those that cannot work or who stand against Valyria.

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It had been several hours' since Vinyx had left Maehra to her work and already several other cabal leaders had come to him with concerns about the ritual. He had managed to calm them but already he could see the beginnings of power plays and divisions between the various cabals, but he doubted they would interfere with the early parts of the campaign after all everyone knew how important their success was to jeopardize it with petty power plays and rivalries but it would be something to worry once they had taken Gogossos of that he was certain.

As Vinyx looked over the scouting reports he was disturbed to find out that the corsairs were already mobilising with over forty ships making their way to talon from the isle of tears and ax isle, even now around ten thousand would be arriving as a first wave in mere hours, Vinyx sighed in frustration, even with the new ships they had acquired they would still be drastically outnumbered when the main force arrived. Now more than ever he needed Maehra's plan to succeed, he could only hope that she finished the preparations before the main force arrived, if not he doubted that they would be able to hold the isle for long before he would have to retreat back to Valyria in shame. Already he could see the final preparations for the ritual taking place, with the furrows in the ground being filled with oils and the stakes that would hold the slaves having been placed within the centre of the camp, with the sacrifices even now being tied to them, the majority of the slaves seemed to have resigned themselves to their fate, but some remained defiant particularly the one that Vinyx recognised as having attempted to rebel earlier that day.

Walking around the perimeter of the ritual Vinyx frowned in distaste at the site of the K'Dath runes before continuing on his way. He noticed that the majority of the remaining slaves were being taken back to their quarters each of which had a Valyrian Sigel of protection on it, the janissary also had this symbol painted on their armour while also wearing mirror armour over their chainmail to guard against the rituals magic, the trueborn on the other hand needed no such extra protection, their rune covered armour and natural born resistance would be enough to protect them from the ritual. The majority of his forces in both legions were even now preparing for the corsair's arrival, with a large number already manning the walls, preparing scorpion's and ballistae's on the towers and barring the gates.

The remainder of his forces in the tenth legion set about guarding the slave quarters and the cabals to ensure that everything would go as planned, the remaining members of the seventh legion however began to separate into smaller units before entering the jungles surrounding the camp to begin a hit and run campaign against the corsairs when they finally arrived, with luck they would be able to delay the enemy advance long enough to complete the ritual. Vinyx noticed that legate Visevon would be joining these squads, his blackened dragon steel armour seeming to absorb the suns fading light, as Vinyx looked at him he considered that while the fire in his violet eyes may have been uncomfortable, the smile on his face could barely be called human, fitting then Vinyx considered that as he placed his helm on that it was worked into the shape of a manticore, "one cruel beast wearing the face of another cruel beast."

Shaking his head to clear it of such thoughts Vinyx nodded to the vicious, grinning helm of the legate receiving a nod and salute in response, before the legate left through the last of the unbarred gates his men following him through. The gate silently shut behind them before being barred. Vinyx continued making his way through the camp occasionally stopping to respond to a salute or short query, eventually he made his way to Taelar who had been placed in charge of the camps defences, as he entered the legates tent the listened as he calmly ordered the officers present to reinforce the western walls of their base since the thick jungles in that area would be able to hide the enemy advance for far longer than any of the other areas near them. When the legate finally noted Vinyx presence he dismissed the officers before greeting the archon with a salute which Vinyx quickly returned.

"Greetings legate, are the defences prepared?" Vinyx asked

"My archon, our forces are prepared to hold this camp with their lives I assure you. With our current supplies however, I do not believe that we will be able to hold out for more than two weeks if even that, we are however fortunate that the thick jungles in the surrounding area will prevent them from using any heavy siege equipment, it is my opinion that they will rely on ladders and rams nothing more." Taelar replied. "However, I must point out archon that even though this is merely the first wave they will have near numerical parity with us. I would have preferred if my fellow legate had not left with half of his legion in vain attempt to slow their advance."

Vinyx could hear the contempt that Taelar had for his fellow legate's actions in his voice and a part of him agreed that Visevon's plan was unlikely to succeed but he also knew that they were desperate and needed every way possible to buy time in order to complete the ritual.

"I understand your worries legate, but these are desperate times the emperor chose us to accomplish this mission and within only a few days we have already conquered one of the isles, and then lost it again when the enemy advanced quicker than we anticipated. We cannot afford to lose any more ground, with luck Visevon's will delay the enemy, the ritual will succeed and the enemy will be defeated, then we can once more retake the isle, from there we will march upon the isle of tears and then legate we will have our victory, for when the banners of Valyria once more fly on the walls of Gogossos nothing in this land will be able to defeat us. That is why we must win here, if we don't then Valyria may well be lost as well." Vinyx stated is voice resolute. He could tell that it had an effect on the legate as the man straightened his back before saluting a new fire in his eyes as he prepared to defend the camp and with it the future of Valyria.

"I will not fail archon nor will the tenth. I swear it."

Vinyx nodded before taking his leave making his way to speak his expeditions head sorceress. He found her quickly speaking with several other members of her cabal who upon seeing him draw near quickly excused themselves before heading to complete the tasks required of them for the ritual. Slowly Maehra turned to look at him before quickly walking to meet him and as she stood before him, she quickly smiled and bowed in greeting, before she began her report on the rituals progress.

"Archon I have excellent news, the ritual is almost complete, the only thing that we are now waiting for is the runes and geoglyphs to gather enough magical energy to strengthen the rituals effects and increase its range." Maehra said.

"Excellent when do you believe the runes will have absorbed enough energy?" asked Vinyx.

Maehra looked from Vinyx to the ritual site and the slaves now securely held within. "by my estimates a few hours at most, perhaps two at the least after that the rest of the ritual will not take long."

Vinyx was about to reply when he suddenly heard the sound of a war horn followed by intense though short fighting outside the walls. Vinyx was surprised, he knew that the enemy vanguard was close but he had no idea that they had already managed to reach so near to their encampment, as he looked at shocked Maehra he knew that she was just as surprised as he was.

"I do not believe that you will have even an hour for this ritual sorceress I suggest you find a way to accelerate it." Vinyx commanded as he unsheathed his sword and began to head towards the command tent.

"B-but archon if we do anything that may disrupt the ritual the results could be catastrophic!" Maehra replied her tone growing desperate near the end.

"Find a way sorceress, find a way!" Vinyx shouted before running to meet with the now yelling Taelar.

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Vinyx looked over the walls of the encampment as he listened to the sounds of combat going on in the jungles, however he could not tell exactly how far away they were coming from as the jungles played tricks on the sound. But Vinyx was relieved that apparently Visevon's plan was successful as while the fighting had been going on for some time it did not appear as though the bulk of the corsairs had managed to reach the walls yet. Though there had been attacks from small disorganised groups that must have broken off from the main force, thankfully they were easily repulsed with some of them not even possessing siege equipment.

But Vinyx noted the groups were getting larger and more organised as time went on it had already been a little over half an hour and already he saw the tell-tale flares of the Valyrian legions being launched into the air. These flares informed the legions commanders where the largest concentrations of the enemy were and that they needed support. As he saw the flares he knew that Visevon's forces were likely going to fall back deeper into the jungles to regroup, with luck they would take the majority of the enemy with them, but Vinyx began to think that unlikely. The more that he thought of the newer groups attacking the walls he considered how quickly they would retreat compared to their predecessors, a few moments later he came the realisation that they were scouting parties clearly the enemy commanders had realised what they had planned and were no longer panicking or getting distracted by the diversionary forces.

Vinyx knew that enough of the scouting parties must have escaped to lead the main enemy army back to the camp. He quickly began to order the defenders to prepare for the main forces arrival, with luck they may be able to prepare for them and the ritual would be finished before they could get past the walls. Vinyx sighed who ever commanded these savages was cleverer than he had thought, Vinyx decided to leave the wall in order to speak with Maehra about the rituals progress, perhaps she would have better news for him than the last time they had spoken, though he doubted it. making his way to the ritual space he watched as the trueborn and janissary moved around the walls and gates watching for the enemies' arrival.

When he finally reached the ritual space he saw that the site was surrounded by over a dozen bodies, as Vinyx examined the bodies he noted that they were some of the healthier slaves that were being kept within their quarters during the ritual, each of them had runes carved into their flesh their faces forever trapped in expressions of agony, while their blood flowed from their opened throats entering the furrows that surrounded the ritual site mixing with the oils that had already been placed there. Making his way closer Vinyx noted that there were more slaves surrounding the stakes each of them had the same runes carved into their flesh while kneeling as though in supplication before the main sacrifices.

As Vinyx took the scene around him in he saw Maehra. She had discarded the robes of her office, revealing the dragon steel chest piece and steel chainmail armour underneath, thinner than any of his soldiers it would still be enough to protect her from all but the strongest of blows. In one hand she held an athame, the ritual knifes rippling design making it appear like fire made steel, with it the sorceress began to carve runes into the last of the struggling slaves slowly chanting, her voice a haunting melody while around her the rest of her cabal began to chant as well, each of them standing around a brazier of blue fire, the ethereal glow giving them a haunting appearance.

Making his way to her Vinyx saw that she had finished with the last of the slaves his body slackened against the stake clearly weakened by the pain. Noticing his arrival Maehra turned and walked to meet Vinyx. As she drew closer he noted that she was now covered in blood the deep red steaks in a stark contrast to her pale skin and hair. Eventually as she stood before Vinyx she began to issue her report

"Greetings archon, I have good news with the… alterations I have made to the ritual it will soon be ready, now all we need to do is finish the final preparations."

"I see is that the reason why you have turned the centre of the camp into… this?" Asked Vinyx as he gestured around them. "I must admit Maehra I find this disturbing."

"It was a necessary evil archon, we needed more power to accelerate the ritual and in the end the slaves being used in the alterations are some of the more worthless ones." Maehra replied.

"I see. What will the effects of so many _alterations_ be on the rituals effects?" Vinyx asked.

"The new ritual will be more… difficult to contain and direct than the original would have been" Maehra lectured, "it is also likely that it will affect a larger area, though the effects passed the isles will be far less severe. Most likely people will only experience particularly vivid nightmares, perhaps a few of the weaker minded will go mad or commit suicide, but for the most part it will work the same as the original ritual did."

"This is getting out of hand sorceress." Vinyx began, but before he could continue he felt his glass candle activate "I have to go, someone is attempting to contact me. do what you can to control the ritual we cannot fail at this juncture."

"Understood archon" Maehra replied before heading back to the ritual site to continue her work.

Making his way to his personnel tent Vinyx placed the glass candle on a nearby table and watched as the glow within intensified as the exhausted voice of Visevon emerged from within it.

"My archon I have grave news; we have misjudged the enemy numbers there are twenty thousand not ten!" began Visevon his tone frustrated, "so far my men and I have been able to disrupt their movements but they are becoming increasingly reorganised. I believe that they may be heading your way."

"I feared as much they have already sent scouting parties, but the numbers you describe are impossible, the number of ships they sent could not have carried that many." Replied Vinyx in confusion "why would they have such a large vanguard?"

"It is not just the corsair's archon, the beasts that attacked the camp earlier are also attacking us, I think they are working together my men were being overrun before I gave the order to retreat, I have already lost one group to the savages! I believe that they are following us to prevent us from coming to your aid while the rest of their forces attack the camp." Visevon growled out his anger at the situation evident. However, his words were correct Vinyx thought as he heard the sound of the alarm at the wall as well as the sound of arrows being loosed.

"Your theory may be correct legate. If you can fight through or manoeuvre past them return to the camp to aid us, if not then hold out for as long as you can. The ritual is almost complete, and when it is we will avenge our fallen a thousand fold!" Vinyx vowed before cancelling the connection and departing to return to the walls.

When Vinyx finally reached the walls it was to find them already besieged, he watched as trueborn and janissary archers launched volley after volley at the approaching army. While scorpions and ballistae tore great gouges out of the enemy's formations. Vinyx quickly made his way to Taelar who upon noticing him quickly nodded before giving his report.

"Archon they came out of nowhere there was barely enough time to direct the weapons. Thankfully it appears that they lack heavy siege equipment. But a few of the men have sighted ladders among them."

The rest of the legates report however was cut off as one of the soldiers near the gate yelled out in alarm.

"RAM! They're bringing out a RAM!"

Vinyx quickly shared a look with Taelar before heading over to the gate. He quickly noticed the ram, an ugly thing clearly made hastily from a nearby tree, the beings carrying it however where what interested Vinyx, twelve almost human like beasts their arms overly muscled and longer than a man's, and even though he could not make out the precise details of their features due to the distance and darkness, he knew that their features would be a grotesque mockery of a humans with large blunt teeth and sloped foreheads, clearly Visevon was correct the corsairs were working with the savages. Taelar quickly took charge of the gates defences, while Vinyx focused on the rest of the defence.

"Archers focus fire on the ram! do not let them take another step forward!" Taelar bellowed pointing his sword at the ram.

The archers were quick to follow their legates command as volley after volley was unleashed by the archers slaying several of the brindled men and surrounding corsairs. However shortly after this the corsairs began to form shield walls around the ram, as well as the ladder carriers in attempt to ensure they would reach their destinations. Using this method, the enemy were able to make good progress towards the gate and walls as their shields proved to be able to hold out against the janissaries' regular bows. however, their advance was eventually stalled as more and more trueborn archers targeted them, their dragon bone bows easily piercing the enemies' shields allowing the archers to target the brindled men carrying the ram, as well as the corsairs moving forward with the ladders. However, while this method proved successful against the corsairs and indeed the enemy moral seemed to be plummeting rapidly as they lost their momentum, the arrows instead seemed only to enrage the brindled men as they marched forward with greater speed, their thick skin absorbing the damage of the arrows. The corsairs quickly rallied around them as more brindled men came out of the jungle canopy taking up the ladders that had been dropped by the corsairs as they'd wavered.

"AIM FOR THEIR EYES AND THROATS! Bring those fucking animals down!" yelled Taelar.

Quick to follow their legate orders the archers began to focus on the brindled men their shots slowly bringing them down as they targeted the weaker areas of their bodies. But clearly the enemy commander had expected this as more and more of them appeared from the jungles to take the place of the fallen, all the while the enemy made it closer to the walls and gate, until finally two of the ladders reached the walls. The brindled men were the first to climb the ladderes with the first using their superior strength and long arms to quickly climb to the top. The brindled men were also the first to fall as a true born thrust his sword forwards into the beast's throat, dark red blood pouring from the wound as he fell to the ground below.

This action was repeated all across the wall as more and more of the ladders were placed, and while at first the Valyrians were successful at holding the enemy back as more and more of the enemy managed to climb up the battle began to turn, as the Valyrian soldiers were overwhelmed by the superior strength and ferocity of the brindled men. Vinyx watched as more and more of the enemy climbed onto the walls forming footholds that allowed for the corsairs to swarm upwards taking entire swaths of the walls. But so far the superior training, equipment and discipline of his forces was holding out causing a stalemate rather than a route. But Vinyx knew that this battle was far from over and for every scene of his forces cutting down the enemy there was another of his men being overwhelmed, there one of the trueborn brought to the ground and stabbed to death by the corsairs, in another section of the wall one of the janissary archers is thrown over the wall by one of the brindled men.

Vinyx watched as his forces were being slowly overwhelmed and forced to give ground as the enemy reinforcements arrived, as he watched he saw more and more of the brindled men appear from the forests and began to truly lose heart. However, he was shocked to see these brindled men were attacking the distracted corsairs from behind, he watched as they tore men to pieces with their bare hands, or clubbed them to death with crude axes and clubs made from bone and wood. Vinyx was confused at this turn of events and as he looked at the enemy ranks he could see they were just as confused, Vinyx watched as the enemy stopped reinforcing their advance on the walls, as more and more of the corsairs were forced to defend their flanks and rear rather than continue their progress against the Valyrians on the walls.

This perceived betrayal on the part of the brindled men seemed to anger the corsairs already on the walls as they watched as their supposed allies turned on them, and so flush from their new successes the now over confident corsairs began to turn against the brindled men that had until that point been their allies. This at first was merely raised voices and but the arguments quickly escalated, culminating in the first of the corsairs thrusting his sword into the chest of a nearby brindled man, as the beast fell to the ground Vinyx watched as similar actions took place all along the enemy held parts of the walls. Slowly the enemy advance halted as they began to fight among themselves, Vinyx watched as the already poorly disciplined lines of the enemy fell into disarray as infighting set in, the corsairs even began to fight among themselves as what he now realised must have been different corsair bands chose that moment to settle old rivalries and avenge past slights.

"They see us as beaten. So they think now is the time for their squabbles" thought Vinyx sneering in contempt that he was almost defeated by such an undisciplined rabble. Believing that now was the time to press the advantage Vinyx rallied the soldiers on the walls ordering them to advance while the enemy were weakened and confused.

"WARRIORS OF VALYRIA! KILL THE SAVAGES!" yelled Taelar as he ordered the archers around the gates to begin refocusing their fire upon the enemies surrounding the gate.

The defensive formations of the enemy surrounding the gates already frayed in the confusion of the surprise attack were completely broken as the archers surrounding the gate house fired volley after volley of high powered arrows into their ranks, their shields and leather armour offering little protection from the dragon bone bows of the trueborn, after this they managed to completely annihilate the now defenceless ram crew. Other archers quickly followed after their lead as all around the walls they began to reign down volleys towards the enemies' main force adding to the death and confusion that surrounded the corsairs. However even as the Valyrians slowly managed to push the confused enemy forces back over the walls problems began to appear as some of the enemy leaders began to refocus as they realised what they were doing. Quickly several of the better equipped of the corsairs began to beat the lines of corsairs back into shape, sometimes literally Vinyx noted as one of the officers smashed his fist into the face of one particularly belligerent spearman.

However, Vinyx noted that whatever power they held over the corsairs did not extend to the brindled men as they refused to re-join the offensive merely continuing to attack whoever was closest to them. In some cases, the corsair officers had simply ordered their forces to pull back just enough that the brindled men would focus on the Valyrians, while others simply had their forces begin focusing killing them as quickly as possible. Vinyx eventually felt his attention being drawn to the centre of one of the more organised corsair groups, were he noted one of the officers was successfully rallying corsairs from a variety of different bands together.

"Hold it together! For fucks sake the enemy isn't even dead yet, hold it to together! Pull back let the ghouls get to them first for R'hllor sake!" he yelled out, clearly this man was one of the higher ranked officers of the enemy, his heavy plate and chainmail armour covered in crudely painted red runes while his sword, a cheap steel thing burned with a bright orange light, slowly the man marched forward cutting down every one who met him in battle, whether they were Valyrian, corsair or brindled man, his strange sword catching many of them off-guard, while whatever flames covered it allowed it to cut through even the armour of the trueborn. All around him were other men, most likely his bodyguards from the way they constantly surrounded him, each of them was just as heavily armoured as their leader with the same strange red runes upon their armour. Together they cut a bloody swathe through everyone that stood in their way, acting as a rallying point for the enemy to regroup.

Realising the danger of the enemy reorganising Vinyx ordered that the archers begin to focus on killing the officers, he hoped that in doing so the enemy would return to their chaotic state making the renewed Valyrian offensive easier. All along the wall Vinyx noticed as the rallying officers were put down by well-paced arrow fire and smiled. He eventually noted however, that the strange officer he had seen earlier was still bellowing out orders to everyone around him, somehow immune to the arrows fire, Vinyx watched as the strange runes flared with light as every arrow that struck him shattered against his armour.

"What sorcery is this? The runes on his armour must be some kind of ward, but how? The high sorcerer said that- No! I will have time to ponder this when the bastards dead!" Vinyx thought banishing his speculations to the back of his mind, as he attempted to calm his roiling thoughts a mixture of anger and confusion at the first display of magic among the enemy he had seen since the campaign started.

"Archon! The men are losing heart. They say that the enemies' leader is invincible. What do we do?" asked one of the nearby trueborn archers

"His armour must have some sort of ward, where are the sorcerers? We must break the enchantment now!" Vinyx ordered just as he began to hear the strange enemy commander begin to yell out encouragements and new orders to those under his command.

"Fight on warriors of R'hllor! know that our lord shall smiles down upon you as you slay the unbelievers! Hold the wall! Hold the wall!"

Vinyx watched as the enemy became increasingly re-organised as they rallied around their new charismatic commander, slaughtering the few brindled men that still survived upon the walls. Before they focussed their attention completely on retaking the parts of the wall they had lost to the Valyrian counterattack. Vinyx noted that while many of the corsairs remained the same poor quality force they had been from the beginning, with mismatched weapons and armour, easily defeated by the better organised and equipped Valyrian forces, there was now also a growing number of the new corsairs who were better equipped and clearly well trained, all of them bearing the same runes as the red commander as Vinyx had decided to name him and his bodyguards.

However, Vinyx quickly noted with a great deal of relief that the runes did not protect them from harm as their commanders did, as he watched many of the new corsairs fall to arrow fire and sword thrusts from his own forces, though this was counteracted by the fanatical drive that seemed to motivate them as they charged on through mortal injuries to strike at the Valyrian forces, with the more focussed screaming praises to their red god with the rest simply screaming in a berserker fury. But in the end Vinyx knew that while the final cost would likely be high his forces would win back all of their lost ground, before focussing on the still disrupted enemy forces on the ground.

Vinyx was shaken from his thoughts as a messenger arrived before him. Vinyx quickly took the message from the runners shaking hands clearly the constant stress of battle was getting to him. Reading the short message as quickly as possible Vinyx felt himself grow increasingly annoyed with each word, before crushing it and throwing it into a nearby torch. Turning his gaze back to the messenger Vinyx began to speak, his voice deceptively calm though the look in his narrowed eyes made his true emotions clear very clear.

"Inform the sorceress that I am… displeased with her response and that in the future she should be far more careful in her choice of words."

"U-understood archon, I will inform the sorceress of your words immediately." Replied the messenger, before he quickly left to relay the archons response and await further orders.

Vinyx continued to frown in anger until he reached Taelar who he hoped was having far more success than Vinyx was leading the defence of the wall around the gatehouse, with luck he would be able to spare some reinforcements to assist with Vinyx final push. When he finally reached Taelar however, he immediately noticed the exhausted state of him and his men, visible in their eyes and postures even when hidden behind their armour. As Vinyx took the site of it in he noted that there were many ruined ladders at the bottom of the wall that surrounded the gate, along with many of the corsairs that had been on the ground. Even now Vinyx saw many of the dead corsairs being thrown over to join their comrades in the piles below rapidly forming a new more macabre barrier for their encampment.

"Greeting archon, how do the other walls defenders fair?" Taelar asked his voice barely a whisper, his breathing laboured from a mixture of exhaustion and what Vinyx now saw was a bloody wound to the side that had been crudely sealed shut to prevent him from bleeding to death. It was a credit to his will and constitution that he was still standing, let alone able to speak thought Vinyx, as he looked over the legate of the tenth with a newfound respect before shaking himself from his thoughts.

"What happened here Taelar? when I was last here the situation was well in hand. The enemies ram bearers were killed and the majority of the enemy were either more focussed on the brindled men or in complete disarray."

"I don't know archon. Some of them simply disengaged from the beasts and redirected themselves against us, with some of them attempting to use the ram, but the majority of them simply used the ladders to quickly scale the wall. They didn't care about casualties they simply kept coming. The men and I were taken off guard. Their first offensive was the worst they didn't care about the injuries they took." Taelar took a deep breath before continuing, clutching his side in pain. "I lost several good men in the attack, I fought their leader, but I badly underestimated him, his sword was… strange it glowed as though fresh from the forge, it managed to get through one of the weaker parts of my armour and pierced my side, thankfully the wound was not too deep and it seems to have mostly cauterised itself already. You should have seen the look of shock on his face archon before I cut his head *heh*. After that we managed to push them back. Since then things seem to have returned to normal with luck w-we… will..." Taelar's final words were lost as he began to collapse, Vinyx quickly caught him, noting immediately that his gaze had become glazed, though Vinyx was relieved that he could still see Taelar taking shallow breaths as he had feared the worst.

'A shallow wound indeed Taelar' thought Vinyx with a note of dark amusement and concern, after taking a moment to look over the legate Vinyx called for two of the nearby soldiers "take him to the medical tent make sure that he is well taken care of!"

"Yes archon"

Vinyx watched as they took the unconscious legate to the inner camp, Vinyx eventually felt his attention be drawn to one of the nearby bodies as it was picked up by the janissary to join its companions in the piles below. Immediately Vinyx noted two things about the corpse the first being that it was headless and the second that its armour was covered in the same runes as the enemy commander that he had been struggling against. As he looked around at the other corpses he noted that they too were covered in the same runes as well.

Vinyx decided that these soldiers had fought enough and made his return to his own lines alone. As he approached he saw that his forces had made a great deal of progress pushing the enemy back, the bodies of the corsairs and beasts littering the ground, though he was saddened to see many Valyrian soldiers that lay unmoving upon the ground as well.

As he approached one of the nearby officers upon noticing him came near to give his report.

"Archon we have made good progress so far, but the fanatics have been pushing back with a zeal. Thankfully the enemy commander and his guards have remained at the rear near the ladders, we believe that he may attempt to retreat soon."

"Excellent prepare to renew the offensive, but I want their commander taken alive if possible, I have many questions for him."

Nodding in understanding the officer returned to the lines and began relaying Vinyx's instruction. Before the offensive could begin however both sides felt a strange build-up of energy that seemed to frighten the corsairs greatly as they began to cluster closer together, even on the ground below the wall where thousands of the corsairs still struggled against the dwindling brindled men they felt it, slowly disengaging, waiting for what was coming. But nothing could prepare them for the massive pulse of energy that came, swiftly followed by a strange mist rising from the ground. As Vinyx looked over the wall he could see the swirling mist everywhere even across the waters and engulfing his fleet in the bay.

At first nothing seemed to change and Vinyx thought that perhaps the ritual had failed when suddenly the brindled men and corsairs began to tense, their heads constantly turning as they saw something that only they could see. Slowly they began to panic, screaming in fear as they slashed with their weapons or curled into themselves in an attempt to hide. As the mist began to thicken however the visons must have become worse as Vinyx watched as some of the corsairs turned their own weapons on themselves, thrusting swords into their own hearts and spears into their throats, while others seemed to enter into a mad frenzy, gibbering in terror as they tore out their own eyes or struck at each other beating and tearing at those nearest to them. Soon enough the entire enemy army was nothing more than a field of blood and bodies as those that survived ran into the woods chased by things only they could see, or simply laid down and accepted what was to come.

However, Vinyx was shocked out of his musings as he saw that some of the corsairs had not been effected by the ritual, the runes that covered their armour burning a bright red as they resisted the magic's effects. However, he also saw that the runes were beginning to fade, clearly whatever magic protected them was being overwhelmed, only the runes that covered the commander and his bodyguards still blazed with a great light. The shock of their survival bought them enough time to attack, their strikes a desperate frenzy, while their commander screamed out in a dozen languages curses and prayers in equal measure before locking his gaze upon Vinyx who simply stared in surprise.

"Fools, heretics! you have doomed us all with your arrogance. The great others slaves have felt what you did here, they are awakening! the long night re-GACK!" his words were suddenly cut off as a well-placed arrow struck him in the eye ending his ravings, Vinyx watched as his bodyguards started to drag him to safety as he clutched at the ruined socket of his eye. The rest of his forces covering their retreat, with the corsairs already beginning to succumb to the mists affects as they charged the Valyrians. The madness of the ritual giving their already zealous assault greater power though at the expense of coordination.

In the end Vinyx watched as the last of them was slain, four separate swords thrusting into his body even then however the man still thrashed like a wild beast before finally collapsing to the ground. As Vinyx watched the last of the life leave his eyes he noted that in the end they had completed their objective and bought time for their commander and his guards time to escape. Vinyx turned from the sight in annoyance, before focusing his sight upon the mist that was even now thickening around him and his forces, he frowned as he felt the magic become more and more erratic as it increased in power, 'the sorcerers must have started to lose their hold over it' he thought as he watched as even his forces began to fall under the rituals effects. the worst off were the janissary their mirror armour struggling to reflect the magic's energy, slowly succumbing to its effects as they began to look around in confusion some of the more effected among them even starting to wave their arms in an attempt to ward of some kind of annoyance.

Even the trueborn were beginning to succumb as they turned their heads to look for sounds that were not there, Vinyx was even more disturbed to realise that the magic was even beginning to affect him as he heard strange whispers in the air and saw terrible figures in the corner of his eyes. Slowly the magic built up more and more, before with a thunderous burst of energy it ended, but in that instant were the energy was at its highest Vinyx cried out in terror, as he saw the figure that surrounded him, a terrible creature with star covered black flesh it's many mouths all smiling and sneering and laughing all at once, while thousands of eyes stared at him in hate and lust and joy as it slowly reached towards him, the chill of its midnight black claws causing frost upon his armour.

While it had only lasted a moment before the figure disappeared along with the mist Vinyx merely had to look at the frost even now melting upon his armour to know that what he had seen was more than some terrible illusion, but an all too real being, ancient and terrible perhaps one of the gods of K'Dath or some vile being that resided in the equally vile lands he now stood upon, but whatever the figure was he knew that he had looked upon something of true evil and that he would never forget it. No matter how much he wished he could.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been several hours since the battle was declared over, and now Vinyx found himself going over reports. All things considered it had proven a great success, the enemy destroyed and the basilisk isles now theirs for the taking. Maehra had even informed him that the energy released by the ritual had in fact greatly increased the background magic in the surrounding lands making it easier to manipulate, more importantly however was her news that Gogossos would now be easier to fully awaken and make use of. In the end it was a great victory and one that his people could greatly rejoice in, they needed a victory after having watched the old freehold crumble, only to find themselves thrust into a new time surrounded by savages and old enemies. Vinyx was proud to have served his people in this regard and those under his command shared that pride, for it had been them that achieved it.

But Vinyx thoughts soon turned to melancholy however as he looked over the casualty report, over one thousand trueborn and janissary slain in the siege alone, and when combined with those casualties with those taken by those involved in the running battle that Visevon and his forces had been forced into by the brindled men and corsairs, the number became closer to two thousand. With thousands more injured to some degree, a blessing he supposed however was that since the magic in the area was now stronger, it meant that healing spells and rituals were now easier to perform, meaning that most of the injured would be able to recover, but in the end it did not change the fact that his forces had suffered a serious blow that would take time to recover from. Time which Vinyx knew his people did not truly have anymore.

Deciding that he had spent enough time within his quarters Vinyx decided that now was as good a time as any to gather the other officers in order to plan their next actions. Summoning a messenger to relay his summons to the various officers Vinyx made his way out of his quarters, as he walked through the camp he saw the slaves being put to work, repairing the defences and gathering the bodies of the enemy dead. Vinyx noted that many of them had an air of paranoia about them flinching at every loud noise, their eyes constantly moving as though looking for something. Perhaps the ritual had affected them in the same way that it had his men, the protections placed on their quarters were after all not of the same quality or concentration as those used by his forces.

Dismissing the slaves from his mind Vinyx decided that before he called for a meeting he should visit the medical area to see the condition of his men. When he arrived at the large structure he took a moment to admire the efficiency of its construction. it had been one of the first buildings built when the camp was being made, most of the materials were salvaged from the relatively undamaged pieces of the town while the surrounding trees supplied the rest of what was needed. The building was painted white and prominently bore the Valyrian runes for healing and protection all around it. As Vinyx entered the building, he was immediately hit by the smell of the incense and various elixirs that were used in healing rituals and spells by the sorcerers that chose to focus on the complex and time consuming arts.

The sorcerers themselves were very different from the other cabals that he interacted with, unlike the usual dark colours and armour that was common among the other sorcerous sects, the healers instead wore simple white robes with red around the edges with the only decoration being the symbol of healing stitched to the front and back of them. Each of them hurried to their destinations occasionally speaking with one another in hushed tones, as they stood over their patients healing what they could and comforting those they could not. In this Vinyx noticed another difference among the healers, as unlike the other sects, especially among the combat focused of their cabals there was a trend towards hiding ones face behind a veil of either chain mail or thick cloth, the healers instead almost always left their faces uncovered allowing the patients a degree of comfort.

Walking towards one of them, Vinyx asked where Taelar was being treated. After receiving his answer, he made his way through the brightly lit hallways towards the legate's private room. as he walked he looked around himself to see the various soldiers being treated, some merely having wounds sealed shut as the healers hummed the spell songs of their order the flesh knitting back together without even a scar, while the more serious injuries were taken to one of the ritual spaces, from those areas Vinyx saw thin veils of smoke from incense combined with the same song spells, the volume and speed of them depending on the seriousness of the injuries.

Vinyx bowed his head slightly as he heard some of the songs take on a more sorrowful tone as the patients were comforted in their dying moments. The magic no longer healing but merely taking the pain away, as it shut their bodies down. Vinyx knew how many of the other sects hungered for that particular ability to merely sing and their enemies to fall, but in the end the healers guarded their secrets carefully, and when pressed could be surprisingly ruthless in their methods.

Finally, Vinyx stood before Taelar's room as he entered he immediately noted the legates armour and weapons, newly repaired and cleaned the black dragon steel glimmering in the light. Making his way forward Vinyx noted that the legate was in a deep and somewhat heated conversation with one of the healers, as well as one of his own officers upon hearing his entry all three faces turned to his direction, immediately after realising who was in the room both officers saluted while the healer merely bowed her head in respect. Vinyx took that moment to study the features of the injured legate and was rather relieved at what he saw. The man's features while somewhat haggard were still strong, while his eyes showed a great deal of energy and frustration at his current state.

The wound that he suffered on the battlefield seemed to have completely healed for the most part, though a small scabbed over cut remained, while the area around the wound itself was inflamed. Slowly Taelar attempted to rise from his bed only to be gently pushed down by the young officer and healer both of whom had a slightly annoyed look in their eyes, clearly this was not his first attempt.

"Greetings archon, I apologise but I am unable to stand right now," Taelar said glancing in annoyance towards the healer, his words Vinyx noted were rasping ending with a wet cough. "Forgive my appearance sir, the healers say I will be better in a few days. Until then however Vaevor *cough**cough* Vaevor will be acting as my proxy during meetings. I hope that he meets with your satisfaction."

"I am sure that he will be very capable, you should focus on getting better. I will need my best legate if I am to return to Valyria in triumph." Replied Vinyx "But right now I will allow you to return to your rest, make sure that your aide knows your desires for the meeting and… prepare him as best you can."

As he left Vinyx smiled slightly as he heard the legates bed creak as he attempted to get up again, this was then followed by a somewhat heated conversation with his young aide Vaevor. The smile however quickly left his face as he considered how the legate's absence would affect the meeting, while he was sure that the boy was capable it was unlikely that he would be able to make his legates opinions heard when compared to the more forceful officers that would be in attendance. 'Rather unfortunate' he thought as Taelar was often one of the main voices of reason after all. Vinyx was shocked out of his thoughts as he sensed someone's approach, he turned quickly to see the female healer from the legate's room walking towards him, her walk the same as the other healers quick yet somehow calm. Upon examining her as she approached, he noted that like all healers he had met she had a calm relaxed aura that when combined with her beauty likely meant that those under her care were put at ease, even now he felt that he could trust her completely with anything, before shaking the feeling away and returning to the present.

"Archon may I have a moment of your time please?" she asked her voice much like her appearance and manner was soothing and for a moment Vinyx wondered if that was natural or a product of her sects training.

"Of course. What is it healer…?" Vinyx questioned the healer searching his memory for her name.

"Jaera archon, if we may speak in private archon, it concerns the legate's wounds"

Vinyx had expected that she wished to discuss the legate's injuries but he was somewhat surprised at her wish to speak in private, his concern growing Vinyx quickly lead the healer to one of the unused rooms before closing the door and turning towards her.

"Well healer, what is it? has there been some kind of complication in the legate's treatment?"

"No archon that is not the issue he will make a full recovery in time. The reason that the wound still persists at all is that the weapon that inflicted the wound was infused with magic," Replied the healer slowly shaking her head as she spoke. "and it is the magic that concerns me and why I wished to speak with you in private."

"I see. What concerns you about it, I will admit that while the use of magic among the corsairs was surprising I don't believe that it is anything to be concerned over." Began Vinyx "after all Valyria has had a great deal of experience combating magic users from the water mages of the Rhoynar to the necromancy and summoning of K'Dath, each time our people proved the superiority of our steel and our magic."

"That archon is the problem. The magic used by the corsair leaders bore a great deal of similarities to Valyrian magic, too many to be a coincidence." Stated the healer her eyes shifting to look around the room as she spoke to ensure they were truly alone.

Vinyx looked at the healer in shock, before quickly schooling his features into a calm mask as he pondered her words.

"Are you certain that it is not a coincidence? There must be another explanation for this."

"I have already re-examined the legates wound several times, as well as those of the bodies brought in from your own battle with the red commander and his followers. All of it from the runes that covered their equipment to the magic that infused their leader's sword bears many of the hallmark of our magic."

"How is that possible, the runes that covered the armour were not Valyrian, and I have never witnessed a sorcerer transform their sword like that before, nor possess runes capable of both warding against such powerful magic and physical attack." Vinyx replied his mind working frantically for an answer that would disprove the healer's words.

"You are correct archon, no sect within the sorcerer caste possesses such magic, that is why I believe that the magic used is the same as that of the voktys caste instead." Said the healer her voice turning into a whisper as she said the name of the ancient priest caste of Valyria.

"Be very careful with your words healer, it is not wise to make such accusations without a great deal of proof first." Stated Vinyx as he glared down at the healer who to her credit stood firm before the archons growing anger.

"I understand why-." began the healer before she was interrupted by Vinyx retort.

"I don't think you do healer; you have just accused the oldest caste within our society of consorting with the enemy. People have been executed for less than that before." Warned Vinyx now truly understanding the full reason why she wished to speak with him in private.

"I do not believe that the voktys are aiding them nor do I believe that this magic is used by the corsairs exclusively, I remember reading the reports sent back by captain Visedar and his scouts of the red god R'hllor and its worship, in his description he describes the similarities in their magic to that of our own with an emphasis on fire and future sight. These are the two main focuses of the voktys, particularly the seers of the true path sect. I believe that during the cataclysm some of the barbarians must have looted their temples and stolen the secrets of that style of magic. This would also explain why you did not recognise the runes or sense the similarities to our magic, most likely they diluted it, warping into something those not initiate into the ways of the voktys caste could understand and use." The healer looked at Vinyx expectantly as she finished speaking clearly wishing to hear his thoughts on her theory.

"it is… not outside the realm of possibilities. I will speak with the voktys that came with the expedition, perhaps they can reveal more. in the meantime, tell no one what you have learned, we cannot afford suspicion to fester at this critical juncture. If that is all healer I will leave you to your duties" Ordered Vinyx before leaving the room as she nodded her head in agreement.

After leaving the healer Vinyx decided that her concerns would have to wait for another time as he made his way to the meeting room, as he entered the building he noted a greater degree of tension than their usually was in these meetings, and upon seeing that most of the officers had already arrived and were standing slightly apart from the new arrivals he realised why. There among his officers was the most senior member of the blood mage sect easily visible given their appearance and the wide berth the others in the room had given them. they stood unnaturally tall their carmine robes covered in blood red runes completely hid their gender, while their hands were covered by the bladed gloves that were used in so many of their rituals. The final detail of the figures appearance, and one of the most distinguishing aspects of the sect was the blank red mask the glass that protected the eyes reflecting a deep red as the torch light struck them.

The second new addition to the gathering was a member of the Morghon sect of the Voktys, thankfully his ash grey robes and cowl were no as concealing as the blood mages, leaving many of his features visible including his extremely pale, lightly wrinkled flesh and haunted pale violet eyes, while the hair that could be seen was a stark white rather than the natural silver hair of most Valyrians, his stance was also different from that of the blood mage that stood near him, where they stood with an air of power and arrogance the death priest simply stood with a calm confidence, like all of his sect he was well assured of his place in the world and ultimately humbled by it. But it did not change the fact that his exposure to the dead and their wants had taken a severe toll on the man making him appear older than he truly was.

"Greeting everyone, I am afraid that legate Taelar is still not well enough to join us, he has designated that his aide Vaevor will be acting as his proxy until he has recovered." As he finished speaking Vinyx looked over the figures surrounding the map table, his words seemed to have somewhat alleviated the tension in the room as the officers focussed their attention on him rather than their new addition.

"That is excellent news archon let us hope he makes a quick recovery, when is my counterpart's aide to arrive?" Visevon asked his tone light even genial, but the smile on his face was far to sneering to be kind or sympathetic.

At that moment Vinyx heard the sound of hurried footsteps followed quickly by the door to the meeting being thrown open as the young aide appeared. Vinyx looked the boy over, noting the reddened cheeks and gasping breaths. Slowly the boy managed to calm himself as he saluted and began to make his apologies and excuses, thankfully this was quickly put to a stop as the boy noted the blood mage gazing down at him from across the room. Vinyx shook his head in annoyance at the boys lack of dignity or sense of decorum before returning the salute and dismissively pointing to the space designated for the tenth legions representative.

"Now that the interruptions have passed, may we please return to more important matters archon, we have little time to waste, we must make our move now strike while the iron is hot and make our way to Gogossos," stated Maehra her expression and tone a mixture of exhaustion and anger, Vinyx noted that she had still not recovered from the ritual, something that had been noted about all of the sorcerers that were near the ritual sight. "we must move now if we can secure the city we can solidify our hold over the entirety of the isles."

"I am aware of the stakes sorceress. But our forces are still recovering from a terrible battle, one I might add that may very well have been lost, had the other tribes of the brindled men not seen the distracted corsair army as an easy target and launched their surprise attack." began Vinyx as he made sure to look each of the individuals within the room "we underestimate the enemy saw them as primitive and savage we rushed into the situation. because of that a little over two thousand soldier's janissary and trueborn alike are dead, and from what I understand several of the sorcerers near the ritual met a similar fate, to say nothing of the thousands more that are injured and incapable of making the journey with any kind of speed."

"I-if I may archon legate Taelar had a suggestion to the issue of Gogossos that may work." Said Vaevor as he glanced nervously around the room.

"Really and what does my colleague suggest?" asked Visevon glaring down at the young aide with clear distain.

"The legate believes that we should send half of the less injured parts of our forces to Gogossos. Those that remain will set about fortifying this isle while asking the emperor for reinforcements. With luck by the time the reinforcements arrive the rest of our own expedition will be ready to set out and re-join our own forces." Vaevor relied his confidence growing as he relayed his commander's words.

"Ridiculous, splitting into two groups would leave our forces drastically understrength. Worse still the group that remained behind would be an easy target for any new attacks. Let us not forget that at least some of the enemy army survived the 'great ritual' that was meant to have secured us an easy victory" stated Visevon his tone becoming mocking as he spoke of the ritual that they had been placing most of their hopes in.

"That was not my fault. If everything had gone as planned the ritual should have worked without any issue and we would have never had to fight the enemy at all. They must have learned of it somehow and accelerated their own advance." replied Maehra her anger quickly overtaking the exhaustion as her work was questioned.

"How? we left no survivors in the towns we took over they either died to the last or were completely enslaved, there was no way for them to have gotten word of what our plans were." Visevon questioned as he looked around the room "the only two explanations are that we have a spy among us or…"

"They used magic, there are a number of scrying spells that even the most primitive of peoples can use, or perhaps the brindled men that attacked before their arrival were not merely a raiding force, but also a scouting party. It is as the archon said we must stop underestimating our foes. Now is not the time to place blame, it is the time to make a decision that will ensure our peoples survival and prosperity." interrupted the voktys his voice thin almost whisper like but it carried across the entire room demanding that the others listen to him as he spoke.

"Thank you voktys. How are the preparations for the dead?" Vinyx asked hoping to prevent further argument and pettiness from erupting among his officers by bringing the discussion to something far to sombre for such things.

"They are at rest, for the most part anyway this land is oily it clings to the spirit twisting and corrupting those too weak to fight it. I shudder to think of the fates of those that die here without being put to a true and proper rest," The voktys replied his voice saddening at the end before he continued "my brothers and sisters of the sect will finish the ritual to put our own to rest tonight, once the pyres are complete. What do you desire to be done about the enemies own dead archon? their souls are of little interest us.""

"Bah! I say we throw them in a pit somewhere. Let the savages rot in the earth like the rest of the worms." Visevon growled his earlier anger slowly returning as the discussion once more returned to the enemy and the campaign.

"That would be a great waste legate, after all such resources should always be made use of." said the blood mage, speaking for the first time since their arrival, their words carrying a subtle wrongness about them as though they polluted the air with something. Vinyx watched as several of those near the mage shudder as it spoke and barely resisted the urge to do so himself. Better than most he had a good idea of what the mage and his sect wanted the dead for.

"We will get to the enemy dead in a moment. For now, let us focus on our more immediate goals, once this meeting is done, I will speak with the emperor. He will have news for us from his own front of this enterprise, and if luck is with us we may gain reinforcements out of it. even if he does not however *sigh* we will have to push forward while we still have the initiative who knows what other threats exist in these lands, we must take Gogossos soon, from their we will be able to defend the isles far more successfully while using the secrets of the city to strengthen our force for the future conquests to come." Vinyx looked around the room his gaze locking on the glass covered eyes of the blood mage, who's head tilted unnaturally to the side in curiosity, the point where its ear almost touched the shoulder. Barely suppressing another shudder at the unnatural swiftness of the gesture as well as the fact that its neck had barely seemed to move as it made it, Vinyx made his decision on the enemies dead. "As for the enemy dead, I have decided that they will be given to the blood mages do with them what you will."

Looking around the room Vinyx saw many of the other officers come to see things from his point of view, with some like Maehra who had already called for the plan smiling in anticipation, the exhaustion in her eyes almost hidden by her excitement for the thing to come. Others like Visevon and the voktys were fairly neutral to the plan while the blood mage seemed to be the most pleased from what Vinyx guessed of their barely visible body language as the figure stood to their full height towering over the other occupants while their fingers twitched in what he could only assume was anticipation.

Calling for refreshments Vinyx took a glass of the chilled wine waiting until even the blood mage received one even if it only held the glass out of respect for the gesture before raising his own glass high. "Now then let us celebrate the first step of our people's eventual return to power. A toast. To Valyria's rebirth!"

"To Valyria's rebirth!" chorused the entire room.


	10. Interlude 1

**Hey guys. Um, this is a little awkward i did say that i was going to be posting this interlude sooner than this but, well i think we have established that i should stop setting deadlines for myself. This is just a short interlude meant to show some of the future threats that the valyrians have woken up hope you all like it, but before that some review answers.**

enuj1799: You are correct if everything had gone to plan then the Valyrian conquest of the basilisk isles would have had far far fewer casualties but a mixture of them underestimating the enemy, overestimating themselves and the cruel hand of fate meant that they needed to be soemwhat humbled even if they did succeed in the end.

WeylandCorp 4: I am glad that you liked Aurions stunt with the triarchs it was one of those scenes that i wasn't sure whether peple would like it or not. Also you are correct in that lys will play a very important role in Aurions future plans, one that the braavosi in particuler will not like.

 **Disclaimer i do not own the song of ice and fire series that honour belongs to George RR martin**

 **Interlude 1 the consequences of pride**

Meanwhile as the Valyrians celebrated their great victory, their rituals energy swept across the world the great power of the wave combined with the death and madness that had been infused into setting many events into motion accelerating the return of magic into the world as the magic energised ancient wards, strengthened old magic's and above all awakened terrible beings.

Deep in the heart of the lands of ever winter the children of ice awoke, unnaturally bright blue eyes opening with the crack of ice before they began their silent march through their barrow- palaces, their armies of beasts and the dead marching with them, slowly gathering at the silent call of their masters. The lords of winter gathered the great nests of ice spiders each nearly the size of the Dire wolves they so often preyed on, eager at the promise fresh prey they chittered as they crawled from their lairs, after them came the emaciated spirits of hunger and strife their corpse flesh hosts rotting and twisted into a forms barely reminiscent of the humans they once were. Finally, after them came the unending hordes of Wight's that made up the majority of their army, young and old, man and woman in the end death made them all equal in the eyes of their masters.

As their armies gathered, for but a moment the lords of winter took a moment to experience the joy of their task, finally after waiting so long they would put an end to the plague that called itself life, as one their cries of joy pierced through air like the cruel chill of the blizzard that surrounded them before they once more began their silent march, their cause renewed and their will unbending as they advanced, as unstoppable as an avalanche. It was time to end the cruelty of life and free the peoples of the world, whether they wished it or not.

Deep within the lands of shadow in a city where the sun was a dim memory vile beasts clutched to temples and towers of twisting, greasy black stone placed their eons before by beings far older than those that now called it home, the creatures looked around, tracking the worms that crawled across the land, grunting and growling in their crude languages as they went about their days performing the meaningless tasks that worms were want to do. Each of them had felt the ripples within magic and tasted the sweet death and madness that had resulted from it, perhaps some of the worms even felt it though they doubted they would understand such things or feel the ecstasy of it as they did. Such was yet another reason to feel disgust for the worms below. But more than that temporary sensation came the rush of power as their magic began to return, were once they had been little more than shadows skulking like the worms in the dark now they could once more touch the world around them, they could feel again and as they silently crawled through the shadows towards the worms their claws tearing into their warm flesh they revelled in the fact that they could kill again.

With the deaths of so many slowly strengthening the rest of their people hidden inside their corpse city of Stygai, eventually they knew that the surrounding towns would be almost completely depopulated as even the once great city of Asshai would be brought to its knees by the inhabitants of the corpse city. Slowly groups began to split from the mass of their people searching for more fresh meat, eventually they would return with news of how the hunting grounds of their past had grown with all who opposed them dead or crippled, with this piece of knowledge their cries of joy would drown out even the loudest of their victim's screams.

Finally, within the great temple city of K'Dath, in the heart of the icy desert of the grey wastes, the first and last city, home to the eternal priest kings, people stopped what they were doing as they felt the great wave of magic pass them before as one smiling as they returned to their daily lives some taking a moment to whisper praises as they looked to the great temple looming over the city.

Within the temple itself the priest kings sat immobile upon their thrones, before for the first time in three hundred years as one they raised their heads, the black abyss that were once their eyes staring south. Before as one opening their maws unnaturally wide feeding on the powerful death tinged magic of the wave, reinvigorating their bodies, their bones and muscles cracking as they began to move for the first time in so long, whispering to one another in a language thought gratefully lost to time, their words poisoning the very air killing whatever small life existed within the chamber and even beyond it as the birds that were brave enough to approach the temple fell like rain to the ground.

"The time has almost come, the fires are lit, the dragons are reborn. Winter will come soon to the west and the great storm to the east, death and blight will engulf the mortal lands."

"But the dragons are not the ones we saw, the three of the child queen were to be what brought about our awakening, not the return of our old foes."

"It matters not, they are weakened and already they have accelerated our plans by almost a decade. Besides in their current state it would be easy enough to smother them like a babe in the crib should they pose a threat."

"Let the Valyrians deal with our rivals for now until our strength has fully returned. Then we shall remind them why they once feared the dark. We shall send out our agent's let them sow discord and terror across the lands."

"Yes the pride of the west and greed of the east shall feed us, soon the master will return. The tyranny of the sun will end, and an eternal night shall come, our apotheosis will soon be at hand. But for now let us feast."

Sometime later on the order of their masters the people of K'Dath sent forth their agents they would ferment the already petty rivalries of the mortal kingdoms dividing and weakening them for the coming years. Already their spies spread lies and truths to the ears of ambitious nobles and foolish heroes while their assassins slew the priests and prophets of the surrounding lands. While their emissaries began to head to the cities of the bloodless men as well as the tribal lords of Shrykes together they would over the coming years build a great host that would topple the five fortresses and usher in the return of their masters to the world.


End file.
